KCCA gets Parliament approval to demolish illegal structures in Centenary Park

Par­lia­men­t’s com­mit­tee on Com­mis­sions, Statu­tory Au­thor­i­ties and State En­ter­prises (COSASE) has given Kam­pala Cap­i­tal City Au­thor­ity (KCCA) the green light to de­mol­ish il­le­gal struc­tures at Cen­te­nary Park.

The di­rec­tive was is­sued by COSASE chair­man, Abdu Katuntu, dur­ing a meet­ing with In­spec­tor Gen­eral of Po­lice, Gen. Kale Kay­i­hura, KCCA Ex­ec­u­tive Di­rec­tor, Jen­nifer Mu­sisi, Na­tional Wa­ter and Sew­er­age Cor­po­ra­tion (NSWC) Man­ag­ing Di­rec­tor, Dr. Sil­ver Mugisha and God­frey Nyakana, rep­re­sen­ta­tive of pri­vate com­pany, Na­longo Es­tates Lim­ited.

It stemmed from ac­cu­sa­tions by Mu­sisi that Na­longo Es­tates Lim­ited, which was given a lease to man­age Cen­te­nary Park that there was breach of con­tract.

Mu­sisi told the com­mit­tee that the com­pany con­structed per­ma­nent struc­tures on the land, con­trary to the agree­ment which pro­vided for only tem­po­rary struc­tures.

She fur­ther ac­cused Na­longo Es­tates of hir­ing goons to block NWSC con­trac­tors from lay­ing pipes in the area, lead­ing to loss of over Shs 700 mil­lion.

Katuntu said KCCA should with im­me­di­ate ef­fect de­mol­ish build­ings which were con­structed along the sewer lines and po­lice de­ployed in the area to avoid any ob­struc­tion.

Re­gard­ing the costs of the de­mo­li­tion, Katuntu said the mat­ter can be han­dled in the courts of law. KCCA and NWSC insisted the demolition costs should be met by Nalongo Estates that erected the illegal structures.

Dur­ing the meet­ing, Gen. Kay­i­hura as­sured the leg­is­la­tors that the Po­lice would pro­vide se­cu­rity to en­sure the de­mo­li­tion process is im­ple­mented.

It is not clear which are the exact structures to be demolished but Nyakana insists there is only one permanent structure.

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