Gov’t to consider Akright as a model city for budding cities

Ministry of Lands Housing and Urban Development Mr. Pade Joseph Walter together with a team of officials from the directorate made a routine inspection for the urban sector at the Bwebajja based Project.

According to Mr. Pade, Akright is a very unique place that government can learn a lot from so that they can be able to replicate what is happening there (in Akright) in all the other cities.

“We have made several observations and found it very necessary and important that as a government we work together with the Akright team to make this place even better. We have looked at areas to do with infrastructure, roads and they are all good. I am also happy to note that the government has supported Akright with kilometers of the road network but a lot more still needs to be done,” he said.

Mr. Pade explained that they have observed that the government cannot continue handling Akright as a unit but they need to look at Akright and the neighbourhood.

He shared that they are working on an Eco-City in Nakigalala, the government campus also coming in at Bwebajja, so they need to look at Akright in a bigger perspective so that it can integrate with the rest of the development process of the Kajjansi area and as far as Entebbe.

“We have seen the need for us to have this Akright settlement as a special planning area that should be able to attract attention in form of government, tourism, and the world out there. It is a place we are proud of, it is a unique place, and they are doing a lot of good things.”

Mr. Pade further pledged the government’s support to Akright to enable it to provide the best-required services for the development of the area. He applauded the Akright proprietors for the good work saying a lot had changed at the place from the time he last visited the place in 2007.

“Honestly you should be recognised as a special city because what is happening here is unique and what we may need from you is you might be having some ideas or specific needs which you feel you might be able to support you with. Make some sort of a concept paper then we discuss,” he said.

Mr. Anatoli Kamugisha the founder and CEO of Akright projects said that they have managed to put the settlement area to a certain level where it is now a success story and now want the government to recognise them.

He explained that Akright has been working with local government at the district and the town council and the ministry but not so much.

Mr. Kamugisha shared that now that they have reached this level, certain things require to be worked on very well such that their relationship with the government is synergised to make sure that they can go to another level.

 “We need to look at the neighbourhood so that they can be able to tap from the already established systems and also we can help them to improve on their services and the planning so that at the end of the day we can all be winners.”

He added: “We cannot however achieve this unless we have the government because this property does not belong to us but the government which has authority in terms of owning land use. That is why we are bringing them on board so we can be able to expand and influence the neighbourhood so that we can all benefit from each other.”