Mbarara physical planner on the spot for approving constructions without site visits

Mbarara, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Julius Lucky, the Mbarara District Senior Physical Planner has come under fire from the District Public Accounts committee for allegedly approving the construction of buildings in Bwizibwera-Rutooma town council without conducting site visits.

This came up when Lucky appeared before the District Public Accounts committee chaired by Herbert Kamugisha, which is following up on audit queries in the reports for the third and fourth quarters of the 2021/22 financial year on Wednesday.

During the meeting, Kamugisha noted that in the National Physical Planning standards and guidelines 2011, the standard plot for construction in an urban setup should be 50ft by 100 ft. He however noted that in Bwizibwera-Rutooma town council, construction is approved on plots less than the set measurements.

Kamugisha said that the town council is in the process of securing a new Physical Development Plan from the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban development but the current situation is likely to create a mess.

He questioned who will compensate those involved in construction with approved construction plans when the final physical development plan is delivered.

In his defense, Lucky said his office is challenged due to the lack of facilitation and means of transport to travel to the fields since his office is only allocated Shillings 1.5 million for its operations annually. He added that his office relies on the information from the health inspectors in the town councils to approve construction plans, who sometimes give him false information.

As a result, the Committee tasked the Chief Administrative Officer, Edward Kasagara to task the physical planner to write a report on the ongoing constructions explaining how their plans were approved. Edward Kasagara, the Mbarara Chief Administrative Officer pleaded with the Committee to allow him to summon the health inspectors of Bwizibwera-Rutooma town council, Santos Oma, and Rubindi-Ruhumba Town council, Mbirabiramu Venasio to explain the anomalies in their jurisdictions.

Bwizibwera-Rutooma Town council has never had an official physical plan since 2019 when it was created. It is among the three town councils that are to get physical development plans under the Uganda Support to Municipal Infrastructure Development-Additional Financing program (USIMD-AF). The others are Bwizbwera-Rutooma in Mbarara, Onyama in Gulu, and Lwasso town councils in Mbale district.

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