KCCA to Restrict Access to Re-designed Old Taxi Park
Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) will next week embark on the implementation of its plan to rehabilitate the Old taxi Park, expectedly with little resistance from taxi drivers that have previously failed the plan.
According to the authority’s acting Executive Director, Andrew Kitaka, KCCA wants to exploit the current Covid-19 induced lockdown to work on the carpet of the park, its drainage system and boundaries to prevent running water from storming the park.
“We intend to rehabilitate the transport terminal known as the old taxi park. The park will have designated entry and exit points for both vehicles and pedestrians, and will have access control for vehicles to avoid queuing on the surrounding roads and congestion within the park,” KCCA said in a statement.
The new carpet and surfacing will be constructed of layers of asphalt concrete and will have markings to delineate areas for parking and pedestrian movements.
The rehabilitation works which are expected to commence on May 9 are to be undertaken by Stirling Civil Engineering Ltd and Kiru General Services.
Previous attempts to upgrade the taxi park met resistance from taxi operators who feared that KCCA was plotting to tactically eject them while private individuals that own plots of land in the park feared losing their land.
While the authority plans to designate alternative parking areas for the taxis in case the lockdown is lifted before the works are complete, the authority remains silent on the fate of owners of plots of land in the park.
Kitaka, however, said that the cabinet directive is that the renovation works go on as KCCA settles grievances held by different parties.
