The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | A dispute between Phaneroo Ministries run by Apostle Grace Lubega and Uganda Heart Institute over an access road continues, and remains yet another hurdle challenging the expansion of access to specialized care for heart disease in Uganda.
Speaking to URN, Dr John Omagino the Executive Director of the Heart Institute said they had finally started construction of a tertiary facility at the 10-acre piece of land located at Naguru Hill however while they have already opened two roads to access the facility, they remain with one blind spot which if not opened will affect the ferrying in of emergencies once the hospital is finally opened.
Construction of this facility anticipated to end in 2027 started last week following years of fights over ownership of this land. Construction had initially hit a slag as various encroachers claimed ownership of the land.
In 2007, the government signed a Public-Private Partnership Agreement with an investor, Opec Prime Properties, to redevelop the Naguru-Nakawa housing estates into two ultra-modern sustainable satellite towns but this obligation was not met, prompting the cabinet in 2018 to terminate the contract.
The land was then repossessed by the Uganda Land Commission (ULC) but then fights ensued involving several encroachers when it was allocated for expansion of the heart institute which is currently housed at Mulago National Referral Hospital.
However, later, during the COVID-19 lockdown, another entity named Tendo Investments fenced one acre off the ten-acre land claiming that they had a title for it.
This land row would only be solved by the intervention of President Museveni who directed that the land be allocated for construction of the 250-bed capacity facility.
Now, Omagino fears the fresh access road fights could hinder their plans for the facility and calls upon authorities to again intervene in the access road row explaining that a state-of-the-art facility of this level requires a ring road with several entrances to handle the high rates of traffic anticipated.
However, when contacted by URN, Chris Kyerere the Chief Operations Officer at Phaneroo said the Pentecostal Church was not consulted about the road issue until last week. He said that the challenge is not with Phaneroo but with the physical planners who didn’t make a provision for a road.
He said they are in discussions with the Uganda Heart Institute to come up with an amicable solution.
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