Arua City leaders, investor lock horns over stadium 

Councillors in Arua City have locked horns with the investor and City technocrats over what they call unclear agreement signed for the construction of Arua Hill stadium and Business Centre at Shs25 billion.

The councillors demanded that there should be transparency in the dealings with Development Infrastructure (DI) that is constructing the stadium and business centre.

Mr Moses Adriko, the councillor for Ayivu South, said all they want to know is how revenue would be shared once the stadium is completed but they have no ill motives against the investor.

The contention

“Ever since we came into office, no one has briefed us about this project and that is why we requested the town clerk to present to us the memorandum of understanding (MoU) in the next sitting. We need to know what is going on because people are asking us questions and we don’t have the answers,” Mr Adriko told Daily Monitor on Tuesday.

The deputy City Clerk, Mr Cornelius Jobile, said under the MoU, then Arua Municipal Council leased Arua Hill playground (Plot No. 1-7) on Pakwach Road to construct a modern stadium and a business park.

“Once the construction works are completed, the football, netball, volleyball and basketball facilities shall be owned by the council. The council will own these facilities in perpetuity, while the developer will own the rest of the facilities, including shops, offices, apartments, banks and others for 49 years to recover the money the developer invested,” Mr Jobile said.

He said the facility will, however, revert back to the council at the expiry of the 49-year lease.

Mr Jaffer Joel Aita, the investor and managing director of DI, however, denied any wrongdoing.

“There is nothing to hide about this MoU which was approved by the executive committee. I will find time to explain this to them, they are two years now in the council and they need to find a new project. Arua City needs markets…,” he said.

The councillors also demanded to know why the project was taking long to get completed because people who paid for the rooms for business were becoming impatient. 

About the progress of the stadium construction, Mr Aita said like any other structural projects, they too were affected by the Covid-19 lockdowns.

“This project was supposed to take three years but we too were affected by Covid-19 despite the fact that this is a private project. We are getting the money from people. And we have seen projects which are well funded being delayed too,” he said.

The project

In 2019, the then Arua municipality leaders entered a 49-year partnership agreement with the developer to construct and manage a 20,000-seater stadium on a 8.4-acres size of land.

According to the architectural plan, the facility will consist a football pitch, shopping units, restaurants, guest houses and parking yard, pharmacies and banking institutions, among others. It will also have a parking space for 300 vehicles.