Prime
Plan to relocate govt offices hits brick wall
The State minister for Privatisation and Investment Ms Evelyn Anite looks on as unvestors sign an agreement to kick-start construction of a modern city in Entebbe on March 22. PHOTO/TONNY ABET
What you need to know:
- The delay has been due to the extended architectural design process, bureaucratic approvals, and unforeseen planning challenges.
- However, if successfully executed, this project will ease congestion in Kampala.
Opposition lawmakers and other stakeholders in Kampala have ridiculed the government's plan to relocate public offices and the capital city to Entebbe as “a misplaced priority” and instead advised officials peddling the proposal to focus on improving healthcare, education, roads, and other pressing issues affecting the population.
In 2017, the Cabinet approved a plan to shift government offices to a one-stop campus in Bwebajja, Entebbe. The aim is to reduce government spending on rent and movements, as well as increase convenience for clients.
This decision also initially sparked enthusiasm among many Kampala residents, who were eager for relief from the city's overwhelming congestion. However, as years have gone by without visible progress toward the relocation, that initial excitement has now turned into disappointment, with key leaders like Kampala Lord Mayor Elias Lukwago calling the plan “another bunch of baloney”.
“It's yet another bunch of baloney!!. You recall the ultra-modern "Sesamirembe" city they promised to create in Rakai decades ago!!. How about the Akon City in Mukono? This much hyped Entebbe Campus or alternative city is yet another idle talk,” Mr Lukwago said.
“Mr. Museveni should lead the way by relocating from Nakasero State lodge, where he has lived since he took power in 1986, to Entebbe State House, which cost the taxpayer astronomical sums of money. Kampalans are wary of the incessant and/routine traffic blockage meant to pave the way for the long presidential motorcade.”
Lawmakers led by Kyadondo East MP Nkunyingi Muwada called the idea “irrelevant” amidst pressing concerns like democracy, the rule of law, human rights violations, and corruption.
“I have little trust that any such idea of relocating public offices is in good faith or even relevant at the moment. We have other pressing concerns that require urgent government intervention,” he said.
Mr Muwada and other legislators across the political spectrum vowed to block the plan and asked the Leader of Government Business in Parliament to stop wasting time.
Explained the delayed implementation of the plan, Hajj Yunus Kakande, the Permanent Secretary in the Office of the President, told the Monitor on March 24 when asked why the offices have not been moved to Entebbe eight years later that “It is not slowness…but when we were planning, we thought the architectural design would take only one year, unfortunately, when you are making plans, there are so many issues.”
Hajj Kakande indicated the architectural design and related processes have instead taken three years. He, however, indicated that most of this has been completed and that construction would start soon.
“You start with a concept, and after that, you go to the preliminary studies, then you go to the environment side of it, and then you go to a town visit, then you go for approval from the planning unit of the Ministry of Lands,” he said. “There are so many things which didn’t have in our mind [when we gave one year to complete the architectural design]. But all of those, and we have completed them; we have now reached the tail end of the program.”
The Office of the President (OP), according to the Prime Minister, Robinah Nabbanja, has been at the centre of the coordination of this one-stop campus, which President Yoweri Museveni has been pushing for.
Mr Wilfred Niwagaba MP, Ndorwa County-East, said that the government should look at another location, which is a bit far from Kampala, saying Entebbe is not ideal
“It’s part of the confusion in the priorities of government. The current location of the city is not the reason for the anarchy in the delivery of services!. Work on the infrastructure in the city, and the location of a new city in Entebbe makes no difference, since Kampala and Entebbe are one and the same!
“If it were to add any value to overall infrastructure development, one would think of relocating it to Nakasongola after making a complete physical plan for the area and developing facilities for a new city, as other countries such as Nigeria and Tanzania have done. But Entebbe is just a joke?? No value addition, ”Mr Niwagaba said,
In May 2019, President Museveni said the government was spending Shs96 billion on rent for central government offices annually. "Government is going to build a government campus although we have delayed because of corrupt people, Government has been losing Shs96 billion a year for paying rent for central government offices only minus those at the district level," Mr Museveni said while commissioning the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) Tower in Nakawa, Kampala.
Information from the Office of the President indicates that the government hired a company from Egypt called Dar Al-Handasah Shair, which is paired with Creations Consult Africa Limited as design consultants to develop conceptual designs to form the blueprint for the Government campus.
“The architectural design for such a complex for all government offices is not simple. They have done it for three years and they are finalising this coming May. From May we can now make another step of starting the advertising of contractors,” Hajj Kakande stated. “Once we advertise, it takes about two months. If all goes well, by October, the whole construction can start and go on for four years, such that by 2028 or 2029, they will be ready."
The ministerial policy statement for the Presidency for the financial year 2024/2025 indicates that the inception report from the consultant has been approved. “The project is expected to improve service delivery promptly and reduce the costs involved in moving from one office since the Offices will be co-located and easily accessible in one area,” reads the statement.
“The Office specifically, approved the Inception Report by the Construction Management Consultant in a PIT (Performance, Issues, and Targets) meeting held on 25th July 2023, and further reviewed and raised comments on the Comprehensive Project Management Plan (CPMP) and the Built-Up Area (BUA) Schedule from the Design Consultant. The project is moving from the Preliminary stage to the Schematic Design Stage,” the statement reads further.
Plan for neighborhood
Ms Evelyn Anite, the State Minister for Privatization and Investment, also indicated on March 22nd that the government plans to create an “alternative capital city” in Entebbe by erecting modern facilities to increase convenience for workers and international visitors.
“Unless you are in a government-constructed facility, then that office will have to move to Entebbe,” Ms Anite said after meeting the Chinese investors in Kampala. “All the government ministries, departments, and agencies that are in a rental unit, they would have to go to the government campus, and we are actually in the steady progress of building the government campus there.”
Hajj Kakande reinforced this in a separate interview. “All the ministries will relocate to Entebbe except those which are security-related like the police, CMI, Ministry of Defence, and Prisons,” he stated.
In line with the developments, the government has allocated 150 acres of land in Entebbe to Chinese investors to begin building modern facilities as part of a broader strategy to ease congestion in Kampala Capital City by shifting public offices to the new location.
The two Chinese investors, Mr Paul Zhang of Tian Tang Group of the Mbale Industrial Park, and Mr Fu Yu of Rui Zhou construction company. “Some time back, Mr Paul Zang approached me that he wanted to build an international conference center and also build other amenities like hospital, like international schools, like modern housing in the area,” Ms Anite revealed. “I took Mr Paul to the President. Our President gave him strategic land in Kitugulu, Entebbe. Mr Paul's idea is to modernize Entebbe. Mr Paul wants to build a modern city [in Entebbe]."
The State Minister for Investment said the facilities the investor intends to construct would attract other middle-income class citizens to move to that area. “We, and the President, thought it was very strategic because it is to decongest Kampala firstly. And secondly, it is close to the airport,” she said. “But the government campus is also going to be in Entebbe, and so the Kitugulu project is one project that will support the government’s vision of developing Entebbe into an alternative Capital City.”
Mr Paul Zhang said they would invest up to $500 million (about Shs1.8 trillion) in this initiative of building a "modern city" in Entebbe. “We want to build a modern city in Entebbe; a big conference centre, an international school, and so on. We have already got 156 acres of land," he said. "Working together, we can change more cities and also build more cities. Why invest in Entebbe? Kampala has a sure profit. But we need a modern city in Entebbe, it is an old city. Entebbe has the State House and UN East Africa headquarters."
Kira Municipality MP, Mr Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda yesterday lashed out at the government for handing picking investors, who end up wasting tax payers money.
“First, we were told, the government would move to Bwebajja, which now houses some police training school. When did they abandon Bwebajja? I think you believe this government at your own risk. All government transactions must go through competitive processes except under very limited circumstances, like emergency or security, under the UPPDA law. How did these Chinese know the government has land and wants to develop it into an office campus? We will raise this matter when Parliament resumes. Remember the satellite city at Nakawa, Naguru,” Mr Ssemujju said.
Funding
Prime Minister Nabbanja explained that following the 2017 Cabinet approval, on 7 June 2018, the Government of Uganda, under the leadership of President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, represented by the Ministry of Public Service and the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, signed a project development agreement with National Social Security Fund (NSSF) to develop a one-stop Government office campus at Bwebajja, along Kampala-Entebbe Road in Wakiso District.
“The major provision in this agreement was that the fund would use its own resources and hand it over to the Government as a turn-key project,” she explained.
She further explained that in this arrangement, the “Government would fund payables as rent by Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) housed in the rented office space, to repay NSSF in a period of 15 years after occupancy and, thereafter, the facility would revert to the Government.”
Hajj Kakande, who didn't reveal the actual amount the construction of the one-stop campus would require, said they will be paying NSSF interest on the money used. "This project is going to be undertaken by the National Social Security Fund (NSSF), so we shall be using that money for the savers. But after 15 years, we shall be paying them interest at around 17 percent per year," he added. Sources in the government indicated to this publication earlier that the project would require around Shs1 trillion.
Mathias Mpuuga, the former Leader of Opposition, said: “It’s part of the confusion in the priorities of government! The current location of the city is not the reason for the anarchy in the delivery of services!
Work on the infrastructure in the city, and location of a new city in Entebbe makes no difference, since Kampala and Entebbe are one and the same!
