On Tuesday Entebbe Municipality Mayoral Elect Kayanja Vincent DePaul presented a very ambitious Shs18 billion 2016/17 municipal council budget before the council leaders with the Works sector still taking the lion’s share. The works sector was allocated Shs8bn up from Shs6bn in the 2015/16 budget. Mayor Kayanja indicated that Shs3.4bn allocated to Entebbe Municipal Council under the USMID Program will be spent on major road rehabilitation works. Some of the roads that will be constructed include Gabunga Road, Serumaga Road, Selufusa Road, Lutwama Road and Mwaula Road. The other chunk of the funds will be spent on routine road maintenance and the construction of the new Kitoro Market under the Markets and Trade Improvement Program (MATIP) which had stalled since 2011.
We continue to invest heavily in road works projects so as to lift the overall physical access and beauty to match with the level of development. I therefore call upon all leaders and the general public to monitor the quality of road works, to cooperate with the contractors and to bear with the inconveniences when works are going on, as we improve our roads. We want our city to rise, Mayor Kayanja stated.
Other sectors that got budget increments include the health sector which was allocated Shs1.6bn up from Shs1.2bn in the 2015/16 budget, Administration Shs1.7bn up from Shs1.4bn; Finance was allocated Shs Shs1.9bn up from Shs1.1bn in the previous budget. The Educational Sector Budget was slashed from Shs3.6bn to Shs3.5bn.
Mayor Kayanja also revealed that the long awaited redevelopment of Katabi quarters into modern housing estates would commence under the public private partnership (PPP). Over 384 low cost apartments will be constructed under a joint venture with UgaVilla Development Co. and Shelter Afrique.
I’m glad to announce that the redevelopment of Katabi quarters will commence and we hope the low cost apartments will address the housing deficit in Entebbe. The apartments will be sold on a friendly Mortgage arrangement. However we shall reserve 100 apartments to generate revenue for Municipal Council, Mayor Kayanja revealed.
Mayor Kayanja also decried the declining performance in Primary Schools. Out of 1036 Primary Seven (P.7) Candidates that sat for the Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) in 2015, only 358 pupils (35 percent) passed in grade one while 579 pupils (55 percent) passed in grade two.
The overall 2016/17 budget was increased to Shs18bn up from Shs14bn in the 2015/16 budget and will be funded by Local Revenue (Shs4bn), Sector Conditional Grants/wage (Shs4.1bn), Urban Conditional Grant/wage (Shs516m), Urban Conditional Grant/Non-wage (Shs392m), USMID (Shs6.1bn), School Facility Grant (Shs37.3m), Support Services Conditional Grant/Non-wage (Shs489m), Sector Conditional Grant/Non-wage (Shs2.2bn).
