Fortunate Ahimbisibwe
4 October 2008
Kampala — KAMPALA is facing a severe shortage of housing facilities with more than 97,000 units of houses required to meet the growing demand.
The minister of State for Housing, Michael Werikhe, on Wednesday said the Government would implement a National Slum Upgrading Strategy as a way to increase the number of houses in Kampala and other urban centres.
According to the statistics at the department of urban development, the country has a deficit of 1.3m housing units. Kampala alone would need more than 43,000 every year to meet the growing population. There are close to two million people living in and around Kampala and her population growth is at 5.1%.
"Many of our people are still living without shelter or decent accommodation. The situation is even worse in the urban centres, mainly Kampala," he said.
Werikhe was addressing journalists at the Uganda Media Centre in Kampala. The briefing was a precursor to the World Habitat Day which will be marked on Monday at Kaunda Grounds in Gulu District.
According to the Ugandan Bureau of Statistics (UBOS), a total of 4.8 million people in Kampala will have no houses to live in by 2025. Over 60% of Kampala's population live in slums, mainly Katanga, Kivulu, Kisenyi, Katwe, Kikoni and Kanyogoga.
Werikhe said the Government, with the help of the United Nations, had come up with a plan to develop slums into what he called 'reasonable residences for slum dwellers.'
"We are embarking on a strategy to plan and manage urban growth because of the rural urban migration. The situation in the slums is appalling," he stated.
He said Parliament will this year enact the Physical Planning law where 73 urban centres will implement new structural plans.
The Government is also considering the National Urban development policy to effectively manage urban population growth.
Werikhe also announced that the current Internally Displaced People's (IDPs) camps would be developed into permanent settlements for people who do not want to go back to the villages.
He also said the Government would encourage housing co-operatives in an effort to increase the number of housing units in the urban areas.
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