UGANDA, Naguru-Nakawa | Real Muloodi News | The Government of Uganda has repossessed the Naguru-Nakawa housing estate land to construct a medical centre. The government had given this land to Opec Prime Properties ten years ago to construct a satellite city. Conversely, Opec Prime Properties failed to fulfill their end of the deal.
“The Naguru-Nakawa land was government land where they had constructed low-cost houses in the 1960s, but we came up with an idea to develop a satellite city. However, Opec Prime Properties did not have the capacity. Government gave developers five years to execute the project, but they failed,” Mr. Baryomunsi said while presenting the 2016-2021 National Resistance Movement party manifesto report on housing sector performance in Kampala.
The government will now use the land to construct a specialised medical centre, according to Dr Chris Baryomunsi, the State Minister for Housing and Urban Development, as reported by Daily Monitor.
He further said the Uganda Heart Institute, has also been given 10 acres from the same land for purposes of constructing a new health facility. Other medical facilities that the hub will complement include the Naguru-China Friendship Hospital, the Iran Hospital, a Kenyan medical company and another company from United States of America, he said.
What happened to the Naguru-Nakawa Satellite City Project?
On October 15, 2007, the government awarded Opec Prime Properties – Uganda Ltd a contract to redevelop the Nakawa- Naguru low-cost housing estate under a public-private partnership (PPP) arrangement with the government. The project was to begin within four years.
The Memorandum of Understanding between the investors, the government and the tenants’ association prioritised those who had been displaced as primary beneficiaries of the new housing units.
More so, on October 14, 2013, President Museveni laid the foundation stone for the estate’s construction.
The “New Kampala” project, as it was dubbed, was expected to transform the 160-acres of land that had the former Naguru-Nakawa low-cost housing units. This transformation was supposed to raise 1,747 redeveloped flats, bungalows, commercial buildings, a five-star hotel, a referral hospital, institutions, houses of worship and recreational facilities. It never took off.
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