In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kampala’s governing body, KCCA is in plans of presenting proposals to the cabinet to charge private motorists to access the central business district. The move is to decongest the city and improve KCCA’s revenue streams on top of the ongoing parking fees levied on private cars.
This comes a few days after the boda boda ban from the CBD that was later lifted for 90 days pending consultations. The news comes from Minister for Kampala, Hon. Betty Amongi who said the draft policy is already shared with cabinet and will be tabled before parliament once approved. However, the authority is yet to determine how much motorists will pay.
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Why the ban?
As is the case with modern cities, private cars are limited from entering their central business districts in order to control traffic jam, pollution, congestion and this is mostly done by levying fees on motorists trying to access the said restricted areas, in return, the collected revenue improves the coffers of the administering city authorities.
The same is cited for Kampala’s proposed ban on private motorists should the bill be tabled before parliament.
What private motorists are currently paying
It goes without saying that currently, most private motorists incur a fee or two for accessing the city, mostly through packing fees. These range between UGX 5,000 – UGX 10,000 for designated parking spaces and around UGX 1000 per hour. The said fees are most likely going to top these current fees that not only include parking fees but also insurance and fuel taxes.
Projected hurdles
Besides the usual politicking that constrains most ambitious government projects, the lack of a properly functioning public transport system across the city remains the biggest hurdle. It is for this reason that many people opt to buy their own cars than having to go through the mess that is public transport. Kampala lacks a metro or rapid transit system to accommodate the growing commuter traffic. How KCCA plans to overcome that remains to be seen.
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However, this won’t be the first attempt by city authorities to ban private motorists from the city. A similar plan was hatched last year only to meet an outright dismissal by the motorists. Also, the government through public-private partnerships has attempted to introduce buses to ease some of the aforementioned problems to no fruition, a case in point being the Pioneer Easy Buses.
