After nearly two years closure of one of Kampala’s most important transport hubs, the old taxi park, Government has moved in and opened the rejuvenated historical Taxi Park in Kampala-Uganda’s capital.
The major reason for closure of the Old taxi park was mainly to aid renovation of the deteriorating park facilities that had rendered it ineffective. And with the first pandemic lock down in 2020, there was no any other perfect time to commence the works.
When renovations started in May 2020, Kampala City Council Authority (KCCA) through its contractors Sterling Construction Company Limited and Kiru Technical Services planned to complete the works in three months’ time. However due to heavy rains and the impact of COVID 19 lockdown, substantial works couldn’t be completed until late 2020.
Old Taxi Park before renovation
The scope of work included construction of the carpet layer, the drainage system, toilet facility, passenger shades, clinic and renovation of park offices. However, by close of 2020, KCCA was yet to complete anything. But as works continued, another delay was caused as five companies sued KCCA for encroaching on their land.
The old Taxi park, also Uganda’s biggest, serves over 200,000 passengers daily especially city dwellers that work in but live out of the city. The old taxi park occupies 0.949 hectares of land, meaning the majority of the land belongs to private developers.
The other reason for the renovation was to decongest the park and create order and security there in.
Early this week, the Minister for Works and Transport. Gen Katumba Wamala revealed that they had agreed with KCCA to hand over the park as negotiations between the five companies and KCCA for compensation are ongoing. The results of the negotiations are yet to be known but the park is up and running.
Taxi operators flocked the park on Saturday morning to resume operations in jubilation.
The re-opening of the park has also brought joy to passengers, who say boarding from the streets exposed them to thieves who often snatched their bags in the night. Stella Nafula, a passenger, who usually commutes to Mukono, says that since the park was closed, she has been boarding from Burton street.
About Guide2Uganda
Guide2Uganda (www.guide2uganda.ug) is the most comprehensive source of travel information about Uganda that exists on the web, with more content on its cities & towns, accommodation, attractions, events, museums and galleries than any other online guide that currently exists for Uganda; as well as being a dynamic travel news and events driven site with fresh content added daily.
According to WeFollow & Peer Index (that measure online influence), we are among the most influential online media organizations in Uganda. Guide2Uganda was also awarded ‘’Best Destination Website in Uganda’’ by Jumia Travel Uganda in the 2018 Africa Travel Awards.
Share your travel stories & photos with the world via email: info@guide2uganda.ug
