MINISTRY OF KAMPALA CAPITAL CITY AND METROPOLITAN AFFAIRS

PRESS STATEMENT BY THE MINISTER FOR KAMPALA CAPITAL CITY AND METROPOLITAN AFFAIRS ON SANITATION AND SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT IN KAMPALA

December 11^th, 2020

During His Excellency the President and Ministers’ for Kampala engagements in the Capital City, a number of issues were raised by the communities on how services are delivered in Kampala. Key among these concerns were issues of Solid waste management (garbage collection), sanitation, vector control and access to clean & affordable water.  

His Excellency thereafter directed the Minister for Kampala and Metropolitan Affairs to ensure that the raised issues are dealt with and today we are here to address them as below;  

On matters of sanitation;

1. Public toilets.

KCCA, working with National Water & Sewerage Cooperation (NWSC) together with partners like Water for People, GIZ, Samaritan’s Purse and Amref Health, have commenced a program to construct two public toilets per parish.  The construction of Seven (7) model public toilets is set to begin this December 2020 in select parishes across the five Divisions of Kampala.

Government, through KCCA and NWSC, is in the final stages of procurement for service providers to construct fifty (50) state of the art toilets across the city. These toilets will be constructed in public or communal spaces such as; taxi parks, markets (Nakawa-2, Kasubi-2 (finished), Bukoto, Namuwongo 1&2 …) and other areas of high convergence of people like Constitutional Square (2), Non-Motorized Transport Route (2). The public shall pay not more than UGX 200 per person as per the directive of His Excellency the President.

2. Empting of pit latrine support in informal settlements (slums).

Government through KCCA will on 14^th December 2020, next week, launch the third phase of the relief emptying in informal settlements where emptying for at least 1,000 households in the mentioned areas mentioned in table 1 below and 200 community latrines. The market rate of emptying a pit latrine is Ugx 100,000 for one cesspool trip (4,000ltrs) or Ugx 25,000 for one barrel (120 ltrs) but the emptying shall be subsidized at 25% of the market rate (Ugx 75,000 and Ugx 18,000 for a 4000ltr trip and 120ltr barrel respectively).

Table 1:

Residents in the above communities with filled latrines and are unable to pay for emptying services should visit the office of the LC1 for guidance on how to access this service. We are meeting all LC chairpersons from these communities today at City Hall to be briefed on how to guide their residents

3. Collection of Solid Waste from Informal Settlements

His Excellency the President directed KCCA to collect garbage from informal settlements at no cost. KCCA and its solid waste management contractors, that is; Nabugabo Updeal Joint Venture (NUJV), HomeKlin Uganda Limited and Kampala Solid Waste Management Consortium (KSWMC), have committed to fulfil this directive by a signed memorandum as follows;

a. Free Garbage collection shall be done from households located in the 35 informal/low income zones (slums) listed in the table attached to this statement. This shall not apply to businesses found in these informal/low income settlements.

b. The garbage collections will be done every Wednesday of the week using the “bring to truck” mode of collection. For each time of collection, a household shall be allowed 100 liters (volume of gunny bag used to park 50kg of sugar)

c. Garbage collection from households in the selected zones whose waste will be collected on other days of the week (other than Wednesday) and of higher volume than the one stated above, will be done at negotiables fees in the range of UGX 3000 – UGX 30,000 per month depending on the volume of waste and frequency of collection.

d. Households located in informal settlements which are not named in the above mentioned table, will pay monthly fees of UGX 3,000 per month for a one-time collection per week of a volume up to 100 liters (a 50kg gunny bag used to pack sugar).

e. KCCA will continue collecting Garbage from 277 selected zones/informal settlements/markets across all the five divisions at no cost and at differing frequencies as per table 3 attached. 

4. Concerns of Property Rates charged on owner occupied properties

Property rates are regulated by the Local Governments (Rating) Act, 2005 and the Local Governments (Rating) Regulations, 2006. KCCA adopted property rates under Section 78(2)b of the Kampala Capital City Act, 2010 and under Section 50 of the same Act as a source of revenue for the City.

Property rates payable are arrived at through a property valuation process based on the market value of a property if it were rented. The valuation process then establishes the ratable value.

In Kampala, Property rates are assessed at 6% of the ratable value of a property whose ratable value exceeds 5 million shillings and at 4% for properties that do not exceed Ugx 5 Million.

Residential owner occupied properties DO NOT pay property rates. Only Residential rented and commercial properties pay property rates. Individuals that Reside in their properties should ensure to notify KCCA at the different division offices every financial year not to be charged and equally notify KCCA when they let the property so they can be charged.

5. Covid 19.

We are all aware of the surge in COVID 19 cases in the Capital City and the Country as a whole. We are in very worrying times yet we are still capable of containing this pandemic. Many people have put down their guard and the consequences clear to all of us with hospitals running out of bed space.

I appeal to all the people of Kampala and Uganda in general to continue observing the SOPs and adhere to the Government set curfew hours.

FOR GOD AND MY COUNTRY.

…………………………………………………….

Hon. Betty Amongi Ongom (MP)

Table 2,

LIST OF ZONES WHERE GARBAGE IS TO BE COLLECTED FOR FREE FROM HOUSEHOLDS IN KAMPALA