Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) says it needs Shs140bn to keep the city free from garbage.
The Authority’s disclosure was made in the 2019/2020 ministerial policy statement for KCCA by the Presidential Affairs Committee in which MPs expressed concerns over the poor sanitation conditions in Kampala Capital City after taking an on-spot assessment of interventions by KCCA to ascertain the quality of services it renders to the population.
MPs noted with concern the exorbitant fees charged by firms contracted to collect garbage.
They commended efforts by KCCA to take over garbage collection.
KCCA management told Parliament that they require 65 trucks to collect garbage within the five divisions of Kampala, but only 14 trucks are available.
KCCA further informed the Committee that the Authority’s plan is to increase the number of garbage trucks from the current 14 to 25 and construct public toilets in selected communities in the FY20l9/2020 at a cost of Shs20bn but there is no proposed allocation to this intended intervention.
The Committee recommended that Government provides Shs20bn to enable KCCA purchase garbage trucks and construct public toilets.
Additionally, Parliament was informed of a looming health related disaster caused by the overutilization of Kiteezi land mill to the neighbouring community and staff and the challenge is caused by the operational risks of upstream waste collection services.
The Authority informed the Committee that Shs100bn is required to fund decomposition of the old Kiteezi landfill and plan an initial entry to the new landfill in Dundu are not provided for in the FY 20l9/2020 budget ceiling of KCCA.
However, the Committee proposed to have the funding gap be spread over multiple Financial Years and that an allocation of Shs20bn be extended to KCCA in the FY2019/2020 budget to enable the Authority commence on the proposed interventions.
According to the Ministerial Policy Statement and other information provided to the Committee, KCCA requires Shs865.42bn of which only Shs509.63bn is proposed allocation within the MTEF ceiling which means the Authority will operate with a total funding gap of Shs355.79bn which represents 41% of the required amount.
The Committee noted with concern the deplorable sanitation conditions in some parts of the City which was attributed to poor garbage management, inadequate public toilets, dirty water, and poor drainage maintenance.
The situation was worsened with reported cases of cholera outbreak in the areas of the City particularly Rubaga, Makindye, Kawempe and Nakawa Divisions which cases were attributed to poor garbage management as a result of low capacity to collect and transport garbage to Kiteezi and inadequate access to improved sanitation facilities and services especially in the densely populated public premises and informal settlements (s1ums).
