Kampala — The British gave us political independence in 1962 after working on city planning in the municipalities of Mbarara, Masaka, Tororo, Fortportal, Lira, Gulu, Mbale, Moroto, Soroti, Arua, Jinja, Kabale, and Kampala (PortBell) City Council.

These are the only well-planned towns and cities in the country. But successive governments paid little attention to city planning. The Government recently created a department responsible for city planning in the urban development minitry. However, the department is under-funded.

Although the Government set up the National Planning Authority and the Town and Country Planning Board, they do not show commitment to city planning.

Rural-urban migration is on the rise worldwide. A World Bank report (2000) indicates that by 2015, there will be more than 410 cities in the world. More than a-third of these will be in developing countries. The report shows that Africa's average urbanisation rate is about 37% which is high and by 2015, there will be more people living in urban than in rural areas. There is need to plan to accommodate high populations.

Cap 243 of the Local Government Act states that all headquarters of new districts will become town councils. Given that more Town Boards are being gazetted, Uganda will have many urban authorities. Where as this is desirable, there are no funds for city planning and no political will. Hence, the towns will quickly develop into slums.

Laws governing administration of urban centres such as the Town and Country Planning Act (1951) and Public Health Act need to be revised to address modern city trends.

There is need to create an urban planning authority to focus on planning cities. This should be modelled along other autonomous bodies like the Uganda Revenue Authority or the National Forestry Authority.

Currently, the urban development ministry does not have direct linkage with or authority over municipalities, town councils and boards. It has to go through the Ministry of Local Government which increases bureaucracy.

An urban planning authority would professionally deal with long-term planning and attract funding.

The writer is a Hubert Humphrey/Fulbright Fellow at Massachusetts institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, Boston and the Principal Town Clerk, Wakiso Town Council.