Salome Alweny
16 February 2008
Kampala — AT the current populationgrowth rate in Kampala city puts the existence of public green spaces in danger.
Public green spaces are areas gazetted by law to serve as free leisure parks or national heritage sites and are generally meant to improve the aesthetic beauty of urban areas.
They include Makerere University's playgrounds, Nakivubo and Kitante valley, Freedom Square, Kasubi Tombs, Namirembe Cathedral, Old Kampala Mosque, Rubaga Cathedral, Uganda National Museum, Golf Course, Lugogo sports ground and Centenary Park.
Some of these public spaces were gazetted during the colonial times and others after the institution of national environmental laws in the country .
However, after the colonial era, successive governments disregarded their regular maintenance hence some remained dirty and unappealing to the public while others were parceled into plots and given to private developers.
Kampala City Council allocated six acres of land within Centenary Park, originally meant to be a recreation centre, to M/s Cadre Investments for hotel construction, according to sources at the council.
The remaining piece of land within the park is supposed to remain a recreational centre, managed by Ms Nalongo Estates, which is owned by wife of Central Division LC3 Chairman Godfrey Nyakana.
Kampala City Council has also leased two plots on the Main Railway Station Square to M/S Filadelphia for development of a storey parking lot, Daily Monitor has learnt.
An architect on the Urban Planning and Land Management Department at KCC, Mr Frank Matovu, warns that sub-divisions are also threatening the existence of Nakasero Hilltops.
"Nakasero hills should be covered by trees but people are sub-dividing the original plots and structural developments are coming up thus most of the trees are being cut, " Mr Matovu said.
Others threatened by the increasing land sales and constructions are Makerere University sports grounds, Freedom Square and Lugogo sports.
Wetlands within the city for instance are seen as idle land. Consequently, developers seek to convert them for other use, hence threatening their existence.
"Wetlands purify the city's sewerage before it flows back into water bodies like Lake Victoria ," Mr Fred Kiwazi, a senior Inspector at the Wetlands Inspection Division said.
According to Mr Kiwazi, all wetlands within Kampala are threatened by illegal land sales, agricultural establishments and informal settlements.
Some of these include Nsooba, Bulyera, Kiyanja, Kansanga, Kyetinda, Mayanja and Nakivubo wetlands. Other threats to wetlands, he said, are industrial development which have destroyed especially the kinawataka wetlands, and part of Nalukolongo.
The Kampala Urban Study, 1994, also points out high population density (approx.3, 974 per person per square km) as one of the main causes of wetland degradation in Kampala.
With all these threats, experts fear that if nothing is done in 10 years time, public green spaces may be no more.
On how to handle public green spaces without loosing them, Mr Matovu says it is better to let every body know them and give it's management to private individuals who should work under close supervision of the concerned authorities.
"The private developer can then come up with a few income generating activities within the public space and impose a fee on them to help him pay his bills," he says.
Mr Paul Ssemujju, at the department of Architecture at Makerere University says in case of inadequate space to cater for the increasing population, developers should resort to multi-storey buildings.
In her urban study report "Kampala's Greens", Ms Leonie Rhode stresses that in the context of sustainable development, the protection and development of urban open spaces and green structure is of particular importance.
"They give a face to the city and are living and working spaces at the same time. Besides social components, green spaces and vegetation are of high ecological value," she wrote.
" Their existence has an essential impact on health and climate, for they stabilise soil and are an important link in the chain of natural cycles, " Ms Rhode said. She said developments should be socially and environmentally compatible.
Today, Constitutional Square and Sheraton Gardens have been fenced off and beautified, and it's giving the city a face-lift.
The Uganda National Museum has also been improved and new traditional huts built to display some of Uganda's cultural heritage.
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