The Kampala City Traders Association (KACITA) has said there is need to start big businesses outside the city centre that he noted will help decongest the city.
Speaking at the opening of Costco supermarket opposite Gaddafi mosque at Old Kampala on Friday afternoon, KACITA spokesperson Issa Ssekitto said many people have been complaining of congestion in the city and all efforts to solve the same have proved futile.
“KCCA has tried to solve the congestion problem using its authority but has failed. Many people want to come to the city centre but find it difficult due to congestion,” Ssekitto said.
The KACITA spokesperson said unless development starts widening from the nucleus of the Central Business District, congestion will continue to be a menace for many who want to access the city.
“Seeing such investments like supermarkets not in Kikuubo or Nkrumah road but Old Kampala is a big step towards reducing congestion in the city centre,”he noted.
According to the Costco proprietor, Nnalongo Leticia Jjingo, the wholesale and retail supermarket targets traders from neighbouring countries who don’t want to find difficulties in regards accessing the city.
“We realized many traders find problems to access Kikuubo. We decided to put in place a one-stop centre where they can buy the good they want, and return to their destinations without going through the congestion in the city centre,” Nnalongo Jjingo said.
She insisted the supermarkets targets traders from neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania, Kenya, South Sudan and Burundi.
Justification
A recent World Bank report on the role of city governments in the economic development of greater Kampala revealed that congestion is particularly troublesome for medium and large firms in the tradable sector who rely on the transportation of good around and outside the city.
The 2014 National Population and Housing Census indicated that Kampala’s resident population is 1.5 million whereas according to KCCA, about 4.5 million people visit the city centre every day.
A number of people travel to the city centre to either work or transact business which more pressure on the available means of transport and in the end, causing a shortage of transport services.
The number of taxis, boda boda, trucks and private cars has kept on swelling over the years and if coupled with the current infrastructure built in the 1960s, this makes traffic congestion inevitable.
