UGANDA, West Nile | Real Muloodi News | Mr Obiga Kania, Minister of State for Lands, Housing and Urban Development, said illegal structures in the West Nile Sub-region face demolition because they hinder development.
Buildings built on road reserves without consent from urban and sub-county authorities are likely to be affected, according to Mr Obiga Kania, the State Minister for Lands, Housing and Urban Development.
Mr Kania said that some landowners in the region deliberately build on road reserves to profit from the government or investors. They demand heavy compensation during road construction hence dragging government projects and hindering development.
“We will break those houses that are deliberately constructed on the road reserves even if you have titles for them or not. Compensation is not a certificate for you to build on the road. Sometimes, we shall not compensate for your building, farms or trees that you have on road reserves,” Mr Kania said.
Residents who construct on road reserves as defined in the Road Act 2019 or environmentally sensitive areas as stated in the National Environment Act 2019 or litter on a public place shall pay a fine or face imprisonment.
According to Mr Kania, the ministry would enforce the Physical Planning Act 2020 to organise the towns and cities. He further encouraged authorities to mark all the plots and names of structures in their towns for easy accessibility and visibility.
The amended Physical Planning Act Section 57 (C) requires Landlords to paint their structures, put litter bins, and put signs with street names on their plots as specified by the local government.
“We encourage parish chiefs, town council, municipal and city council planners to mobilise and sensitise people on how their building plans would be approved. We should have planned towns and cities because we cannot have people take advantage of weak enforcement to build their houses in an unplanned manner,” Mr Obiga Kania said.
According to Mr Kania, the Ministry of Lands has already planned to map out slums in major towns and cities for redesigning and redevelopment.
Mr Kania said there must be physical planning to create easy accessibility and beautification in newly created cities like Arua. The focus will be on factories, recreational centres, among others.
Arua authorities recently demolished some houses on road reserves to give way for road construction. City planner Mr Moses Findru said they are using the cadastral maps to re-plan Arua city.
“Many of the illegal structures on the road are owned by individuals, yet the road is for the public. Having unplanned buildings has grossly compromised greening the environment,” Mr Moses Findru, the city planner, emphasized.
In November last year, the chairperson of the National Planning Board, Ms Amanda Ngabirano, called for action against owners of illegal buildings in ungazetted areas.
“We must ensure physical planning and enforcement is done on errant owners of houses not approved by the authorities. People have heavily encroached on road reserves purposely in most towns. People should be moved away from them before the situation goes out of hand,” Ms Amanda said.
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