The Uganda lands commission boss Beatrice Byenkya is in trouble over allegations of multiple allocations of plots in the Nakawa-Naguru housing estate contrary to the presidential, Court ruling and cabinet directive.
The mess, which has stalled the project, prompted the first Deputy Prime Minister Gen. Moses Ali to inspect the controversial 166-acre piece of land to ascertain the truth.
A team of cabinet ministers namely, Betty Amongi, the minister of Kampala, Betty Kamya minister of lands and others led by the first deputy premier General Moses Ali made unannounced visit to the controversial Nakawa-Naguru housing estate following complains that there was double allocation of plots.
On arrival, the team confirmed the allegation, with some residents quickly registering their complaints.
One of the residents said that “the Uganda land commission has been allocating the land to individuals which mandate it was not given.
Another confirmed the claims, saying “we are seeing people who are being given more than one plot.”
Now some local leaders threaten to mobilize earlier evicted tenants to repossess the land citing corrupt and non-compensation.
On October 15, 2007, OPEC Prime Properties – Uganda Ltd entered into a public-private partnership (PPP) with the government to redevelop the dilapidated estate.
But the government repossessed the land claiming that the investor had failed to develop the planned satellite city and it was handed over to the Uganda land commission.
Local leaders in Nakawa claim that the ambitious construction of a satellite city, compensation of tenants and construction of low cost buildings for evicted tenants was never fulfilled.
Nakawa Division Mayor and Nakawa East MP elect, Ronald Balimwezo says the estate is being turned into a slum.
“Unfortunately, what we are seeing today is the fragmentation and demarcation of this prime land into smaller plots, and instead of having a satellite city we are going to have a slum,” he noted.
The new twist for Nakawa-Naguru estates land is that the Uganda lands commission has allegedly issued plots to more than one developer.
The first deputy Prime Minister General Moses Ali who led the team of line ministers however vowed to abide by the presidential and cabinet directive to consider hospitals, schools and local government headquarters first.
Moses Ali also confirmed the allocation of plots by the Uganda lands commission, which he says is contrary to the directive.
On October 14, 2013, President Museveni laid the foundation stone for the construction of the Naguru-Nakawa satellite city estate. The project dubbed “New Kampala”, was expected to see the 160-acre land, formerly home to the Naguru-Nakawa low-cost housing units, redeveloped to have 1,747 flats, bungalows, commercial buildings, a five-star hotel, a referral hospital, schools, houses of worship and recreational facilities.
