Kampala — THE long-awaited contract for the $300m (sh528b) project to redevelop the Nakawa-Naguru estates into an ultra-modern satellite town has finally been signed.

Construction of 5,000 housing units to replace the dilapidated estates begins in January.

The redevelopment, to be done under the public-private partnership, will also see the construction of modern residential, commercial, institutional and hospitality units.

The developers, Opecprime Properties Limited, a member of the Comer Homes Group UK, on Friday signed the contract at the Ministry of Local Government in Kampala.

Comer Homes Group founder and vice-chairman, Brian Comer, flew in from the UK to witness the sealing of the deal. Comer owns hundreds of companies and property in the UK, including a 60-acre golf course in central London.

The group is the third largest real estates developer in the UK.

Gerald Potter, the group's director, said they were excited that at last the deal has been signed.

"We believe this project will be a model real estate development in Uganda," Potter said at the signing ceremony witnessed by the local government permanent secretary (PS) Vincent Ssekono and Mary Nankabirwa from the Solicitor General's office.

However, Ssekono said he would sign on Monday after clearance from the Solicitor General.

"It is a standard practice that before we sign any agreement, the Solicitor General has to give a legal opinion in writing. So, I will sign on Monday," Ssekono said.

The PS asked the developers to commence work on the project immediately since they had been granted permission. Negotiations on the deal have dragged on for over two years.

The Comer Group Uganda Chief Executive Officer, Hassan Kimbugwe, said the satellite town would be constructed within 10 years.

However, he said, some residential units would be completed within one year from the beginning of construction. On completion, Kimbugwe explained, the sitting tenants will be given first priority to buy the houses on a hire-purchase basis.

Asked how much each unit will cost, he said: "It will be determined by the market forces at that time."

Located in Nakawa Division, the two estates consist of 1,747 units for low-income earners.

The developer will put up 5,000 housing units. Out of these, 1,747 units will be for sitting tenants and the rest will be commercial premises, maisonettes and bungalows for the middle and high-income earners.

The redevelopment of the estates follows the 1994 Kampala District Structure plan that proposed the construction of four new commercial centres outside the city centre to relieve pressure on the central business district.

Kampala City Council hopes that once the estate is complete, the development pattern in the city will improve and more reasonable revenue from property rates and ground rent will be generated.

The project is expected to generate 15,000 jobs directly and 30,000 indirectly when indirect labour-intensive, semi-automated building technology is used, Kimbugwe said. "It will also expand local construction industries through purchase of materials, uplift people's standards of living and directly benefit the economy," he observed.