Kampala — KAMPALA City mayor Hajji Nasser Sebaggala has expressed concern over the increasing population in the city. While addressing Muslims at the Kampala City Council (KCC) gardens to celebrate Idd El-Fitr on Friday, Sebaggala said KCC needed $35m from the World Bank to serve the current 3.5 million people in Kampala.

"Our biggest problem as KCC is the increasing population with limited resources. We need assistance from the World Bank to cater for the increasing population," said Sebaggala.

He compared Kampala to London, saying only 25% of Kampala's population is productive unlike London's 95%. He said if KCC is to cater for the population, it needs a lot of support from the local government.

"We provide services according to the resources available. Street lights installed in the city need sh250m monthly as operational costs," he said.

Ssebaggala added that garbage collection in the city had become an alternative source of income

Responding to the public outcry about the poor city road network, the mayor said plans are underway to improve city roads after acquiring the right equipment.

"The government released sh15b this financial year, and last year, the same amount was released to cater for the bad roads," said Sebaggala.

Meanwhile, the Minister for Regional affairs, Isaac Musumba, who was chief guest at the celebrations, challenged the Muslims to exploit opportunities in the Organisation of Islamic Communities (OIC) to foster international trade.

"The OIC has a programme for traders at all levels," said Musumba. He referred to the victory of new US president-elect Barack Hussein Obama as a victory for the Muslim community, which should be exploited.

Obama was once a Muslim but is now a Christian. Sheikh Edris Luswabi, the secretary general of the Kampala district Muslim supreme council, urged KCC to listen to the public that it serves.

"KCC should cooperate and consider public views to develop the city," Luswabi advised.