KCCA to Crack Whip on Malls That Turn Parking Slots into Shops

Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) is to crack the whip on malls in the City that have turned parking slots into shops.

 

Moses Atwine Kanuniira, the Director Physical Planning in KCCA, noted this while before Parliament’s Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee.

 

Dr. Judith Tumusiime Tukahirwa, the Deputy Executive Director KCCA noted that conversion of parking slots to shops in malls is one of the biggest challenges KCCA inherited from KCC and they are to handle the issue seriously.

 

//Cue in: “parking slots in shopping arcades…

Cue out:...plans in place”//

 

KCCA officials had appeared to answer questions on the alleged mismanagement of boda boda tenders in Kampala as highlighted in the Inspectorate of Government Report to Parliament of July to December 2004.

 

MP Stephen Tashobya, the Chairperson of Parliament’s Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee raised the issue of parking slots in malls being turned into shops also alleging the KCCA goes ahead to collect money from these traders.

 

Atwine noted that KCCA is enforcing and has so far given a time frame to a few building in the City to start converting back parking slots.

 

He, however, noted that it has been a challenge for KCCA to enforce Conversion into Parking Space in some of the Building following a study carried out by the Authority saying that it would compromise the Structural Integrity of some of these building.

 

He noted that in these building, if KCCA enforces and breaks the pillars and other formations within the building, the structures would be compromised.

 

He added that for all new developments coming in town, it is a practice that KCCA requires onsite parking and that they do not entertain building without onsite parking.

 

Atwine also said that as a side measure, they also encourage other developers to create park houses as commercial entities as opposed to parking on the streets.

 

//Cue in: “we did a study……..

Cue out:….revert back to Parking”//

 

MPs sitting on the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee did not agree with the reasoning that forcing conversion of building that had initially had parking slots and then turned into shops would compromise the structures of the buildings.

 

MP Fox Odoi noted that the shops are separated or partitioned by glasses and ply wood and therefore breaking them would not compromise any building structures if in the first place they were parking slots.

He demanded that KCCA breaks these shops for conversion to parking slots.

 

Stephen Tashobya, the chairperson Legal Committee, directed that KCCA provides the Committee with details of Malls that have converted parking slots into shops and also a report on how the issue in being handled.