Alex Bukumunhe
30 June 2008
Kampala — UNPLANNED buildings and the random establishment of small businesses are the major obstacles to the expansion of most Ugandan towns, the vice-chairman of the Urban Authorities Association has said.
Peter Owiny, who is also the Lira municipality mayor, with a group of his councillors and technical staff, last week visited Mukono town on a fact-finding mission.
"In Lira, people are building in road reserves yet the municipality lacks money to compensate these illegal constructors after demolishing their structures. Kiosks are everywhere."
He added that the lack of a grader had also failed their plans to repair municipal roads.
The Mukono town engineer, Josiah Serunjogi, advised the Lira team to demarcate areas for small businesses and others for bigger ones. He also told them to pull resources with neighbouring towns to buy a grader like Mukono had done.
The councillors also wanted to know how Mukono had attracted numerous donors in Norway and Germany.
They also wondered how the town council had managed to register higher tax collections.
Mukono mayor Johnson Muyanja Ssenyonga promised that through the memorandum of understanding they had signed, he would connect Lira to donors.
On effective tax collection, the chief finance officer, Stephen Kavuma, said the use of modern technology and teamwork had eased their work.
"Our enforcement officers are not allowed to receive cash during collection. We also allow defaulters to pay directly to the bank."
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