KCCA to demolish structures built on drainage channel
The drainage channel in front of Aquva House on Kalintusi Road (Mulwana Road). PHOTO | STEPHEN OTAGE
What you need to know:
- He was on Monday responding to complaints raised by investors and the business community on Kalintunisi Road in Bugolobi about the losses they are incurring due to unending road construction works that have denied customers access to their premises in industrial area for the last six month.
Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) will demolish factories and warehouses which were built on top of a drainage channel in Bugolobi industrial area.
The KCCA Drainage Project manager, Mr Brian Bagala, said the owners allowed KCCA to demolish their property to construct a drainage channel after floods became problematic in the area.
“They came to us complaining that they wanted compensation for the property they lost to flooding since they pay taxes but after explaining to them the dynamics of dealing with water, they allowed us to break some of their buildings and also dig under other buildings to construct the drainage channel,” he said.
Some of the properties to be affected include complex for Somotrade, Java House and Anisuma Electronics, Sunmaker Oil and gas training institute.
Mr Bagala said KCCA has agreed with the owners of the properties together with Organic Chemicals, Aquva International building to dig under the buildings to allow the drainage channel to go through.
He was on Monday responding to complaints raised by investors and the business community on Kalintunisi Road in Bugolobi about the losses they are incurring due to unending road construction works that have denied customers access to their premises in industrial area for the last six month.
Mr Allan Serume, a supervisor with Lina Construction, the company that is repairing Kalitunsi Road, said when they started work to unblock the drainage system near Uganda Baati Ltd in Bugolobi, they expected to finish within one week but the works have taken more than two months because they had to unblock other sections of the channel.
“There are things you do not see until you come to the site. We took a lot of time excavating the Nakivubo channel so that water can flow because it was stagnant here for a very long time,” he said.
Mr Serume said the road works, which have stagnated at another section near Uganda Baati for the last six months, have been delayed by blockage of the channel which passes through private property and the owners had denied them access to unblock the channel.
When this newspaper visited the area at the weekend, several other factories around the area complained about unending flooding.
Mr Amon Aruho, the human resources manager at Uganda Baati, said since 1964, when they established the factory, they have never experienced flooding as is the case there today.
Snehlata Singh Chauhan, the director of Superfine Industries Ltd, which manufactures toilet paper, said customers have been denied access to the factory due to the road works.
