Skip to main content

WE NEED A BETTER SOLUTION FOR KAMPALA TRAFFIC




I am sure I am not the only one feeling it. Kampala’s traffic is becoming increasingly unbearable. Even the removal of roundabouts around the city seem to have an opposite effect to the intended purpose of easing traffic flow in the city.

Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) has an ambitious plan of flyovers, underground tunnels and railway transport, which should help the cause, I hope.

The snarl ups that we are coming fast accustomed to, are not only an issue of teeth grinding inconvenience but have a real cost on our economy by hampering and increasing the cost of doing business.

A recent World Bank report suggests that as an economy, we are losing about sh3trillion annually due to traffic jams. The losses come in form of delayed deliveries, higher fuel consumption and the health consequences of seating in a smoke filled environment.

To put this in perspective this is the combined budget of the health, agriculture and ICT ministries in this year’s budget. Or to bring this closer to home, this money could be used to construct 4600 well equipped secondary schools.

I suspect that if a study was done, there may be a correlation between our current economic woes and the log jams on our roads. The logic is simple, the faster we can move people, goods and services around the more vibrant and productive the economy.

There is enough research to show that while improving road networks seems the obvious way to reduce traffic jams it is not effective. In fact studies show that initiatives to widen roads in cities only meant that the number of cars grew to fill up the extra space – a tendency I suspect is happening in our Kampala.

In the early 2000s several western cities including London implemented a congestion tax. The authorities charged any car driving into the city. The results have been a reduction of up to 20 percent of cars coming into the city, improvements in public transport, greater use of bicycles and more funds to invest in the city infrastructure.

I like that this plan hits several birds with one stone – more revenues for the city, improved infrastructure and public transport facilities.

From a lay man’s perspective I think we would be better served by a flyover at the Fairway cross way. At the height of peak of hour that crossing, which was previously a roundabout has people stuck there for more than half an hour.

A flyover there which could cost a few million dollars and could be paid for by a sh100 tax collected through a toll system or off our fuel over two to three years.

And a reduction in car use in Kampala would make it easier to plan an effective transport system we so badly need. Bus lanes will become practical and we can even begin to think about restricting boda bodas to the surburbs where there will be less of a menace to law abiding road users.

On an individual level, it would make our economic decisions of how we use our car ore rationale, as it would not make sense to drive into town for every small little purchase.

As it is now I have friends who do not even bother coming into the city center – never on weekdays and barely on weekends. The businesses in the city are suffering and the ramp up in commercial building space may be for nothing if current trends continue. It will be futile to collect money from these property owners. And even if the properties are attached the new owners will have no better luck.

This is a serious issue and one we should all look to find a solution sooner or later.

( JULY 2017)


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR GRADUATION, ITS NOW TIME TO WORK….

Thousands of students will be graduating from their respective universities in coming days and months. Makerere, our country’s oldest university will kick off its ceremonies on January 15th and the other universities will follow. The graduates have already had a taste of the real life, having finished their studies mid last year and tried to get employed. Many know by now that the world can be harsh and unforgiving. I hope many are tightening their belts in readiness for the struggle ahead. Some may have decided to kick the tin down the road by continuing with school. And others may have given up altogether. My prayer is that there are more of the first and less of the last kind. In talking to young people, I find that what is needed is a reorientation of their minds – a mindset change. Let me share with you certain facts to help manage their expectations of the world and how they can fulfil their potential in our context. First of all, the world owes you ...
Post a Comment
Read more

THE MUKWANO I KNEW

We have lost the greatest Ugandan entrepreneur of our time, Mr Amirali Karmali, more popularly known as Mzee Mukwano. I have known Mzee Mukwano for more than 40 years and most of what I am today is due to him. And I am not alone. "He has helped countless people through school – as he did me. Helped countless more in business – as he did me. And he has been a steadfast friend and source of support to countless more – as he was to me.... I first met Mukwano around about 1977. My mother was the secretary for the chief of operations at Uganda Airlines, a man I knew only as Hamid. Mukwano had come to charter the Uganda Airlines’ Hercules plane and I happened to be around the office then. He was a short man, an unassuming man, but clearly a serious businessman who would charter the plane to bring in goods that were in high demand here. He run a popular whole sale shop in Nakasero – Egesa Commercial Agencies, a beehive of activity and the go-to place for anythin...
Post a Comment
Read more

FINANCING OUR ENTREPRENEURS, A CHALLENGE WE CANNOT IGNORE

In recent weeks the issues of financing for business has been in the news, in one form or the other. We have seen the challenge a past minister is facing with having to hang onto his home. The case is in court, so we can’t discuss its merits and demerits, just to say he may have fallen prey to some predatory practices, with the lender skirting dangerously on the edge of the law. Across the border in Kenya a cap on bank lending rates has been repealed. Three years ago Kenya’s parliament passed a law restricting lending rates to two percentage points above the rate at which the central bank lent money. In reaction banks pulled back their lending to businesses, depressing the economy and prompting the reversal. So now banks can “properly” price their loans, often to the discomfort of small and medium sized businesses. The two incidents are related and speak to the availability and cost of credit. In my business career I have benefitted immensely from credit. It is next...
Post a Comment
Read more

OUR HISTORICAL SITES SHOULD NOT GO UNATTENDED TO

Recently I was at Makerere University to attend a wedding ceremony. I hadn’t been on the university’s grounds in a while. I was shocked at how run down Mary Stuart and Lumumba Halls were. They are in need of serious work. These thoughts were reawakened with the recent launch of the coffee table book “Beyond the Reeds and Bricks” promoted by the tourism ministry, the cross cultural foundation of Uganda and the European Union Delegation. The book which is aimed at the protection of historical sites and buildings in Kampala, Entebbe and Jinja, is a moving collection of pictures of buildings and sites we know, but probably take for granted when we pass them as we go about our business. "Entebe za Mugula in Entebbe, Mackay’s Cave, the post office in Entebbe, the Stanbic Bank Branch in Jinja, Hamu Mukasa’s house in Mengo, the main building at Makerere , the Bahai Temple, Kibuli mosque and many other sites have pride of place among the 60 pictures in this book, which is ...
Post a Comment
Read more