PLAN OF ACTION FOR THE EVICTION OF ROAD RESERVE

ENCROACHERS ALONG KAMPALA-ENTEBBE ROAD

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PLAN OF ACTION FOR THE EVICTION OF ROAD RESERVE
ENCROACHERS ALONG KAMPALA-ENTEBBE ROAD

1. INTRODUCTION
For the last one year, Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) has been
involved in engagements with road encroachers along all national roads
across the Country in order to encourage them to vacate voluntarily. As a
result some encroachers have vacated on their own while others still continue
to operate from the road reserves, road shoulders and in some cases
driveways especially the market vendors. This has continued to create
congestion and traffic jams along these roads. In some areas, lives have been
lost.
In order to clear these roads for the safety of the encroachers themselves, the
road users and for easing the flow of traffic, Uganda National Roads Authority
has planned to carry out systematic evictions of all encroachers who are still
operating from road reserves starting on Monday 15 May 2017. This exercise
is planned for the entire country but beginning with roads in the Kampala
Metropolitan area and specifically starting with Kampala-Entebbe Road.

2. AREA TO BE COVERED BY THE EVICTION EXERCISE

This initial exercise will cover Entebbe Road from Kibuye Round about to
Entebbe Airport. After which the exercise will be rolled out to other national
roads including those in the Kampala Metropolitan Area such as Jinja Road,
Masaka Road, Hoima Road, Bombo road and others.
3. STRUCTURES AND ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES TO BE AFFECTED
The exercise will affect numerous structures and they include permanent
structures, temporary structures, metal kiosks, markets that operate early
morning, during the day & at night. Others include evening bars, taxi and
special hire stages, fruit vending vans, flower vending businesses, vehicle
parking, and vehicle washing facilities, boda boda stages, ancillary facilities
and others. It is also proposed that we consider abolishing parking along
Entebbe road especially parking on shoulders. This will greatly reduce traffic
congestion.
Note that billboards and sign posts are not our target this time. These will be
handled after the regulations for the management of advertising have been
approved for implementation.

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4. ENGAGEMENTS DONE
Engagements have been done with all the stakeholders including the
encroachers themselves, local leaders and political leaders at all levels. At
KCCA we had communications with the Hon. Minister for Kampala and also
had a meeting with her together with the KCCA Legal Team.
5. PRE-EVICTION INSPECTION & RISK ASSESSMENT EXERCISE
A joint pre-eviction and inspection exercise was carried out on Tuesday 9 May
2017. This exercise was undertaken by UNRA, the leadership of Kampala
Metropolitan Police and local leaders.
6. TIME FOR CARRYING OUT THE EVICTION EXERCISE
The exercise will be conducted at different times i.e. during the day, at night
and early in the morning throughout all the week days. This is because there
are activities such as early morning and evening markets, evening bars and
other activities which operate at such times. Therefore in order to target such
facilities we need to be flexible with our time of operation. It should be noted
that evening and early morning businesses are notorious for interfering with
traffic flow. The night markets and the vendors ply their trade on the shoulders
of the road and sometimes on the driveway forcing the pedestrians further into
the road thus creating safety problems and traffic congestion.
7. ALTERNATIVES
We are currently advising the market vendors to use the facility at Usafi
Market.
8. THE ROLE OF KCCA
Some of the roads to be cleared fall within the jurisdiction of KCCA and
therefore it is necessary to work closely with the KCCA Enforcement Team for
guidance on some of the issues that will come up. Where necessary we will
involve the KCCA enforcement team on the ground. In addition, the Publicists
of UNRA, KMP and KCCA form a core media team to address the issues that
need to be responded to in the media. Further, the Political leadership of
KCCA is critical to provide political cover for the exercise to progress
unhindered by politicians.
9. POSSIBLE CHALLENGES
There are a number of challenges which we are likely to face and they include
possible resistance, violence and retaliation from the affected persons. With
the engagements we have had, we hope that this will be limited but should it
materialize, then security is in place to manage the situation. We had
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engagements with the leadership of KMP and all security aspects are being
taken care of. The other likely challenges include political interference. We
have engaged the political leaderships in the affected areas and we are
confident that we have their support. We will however continue to engage the
local leaders as the exercise progresses to ensure that they are updated on
all our actions in this regard. The political leaders are also expected to
supplement our efforts by appealing to encroachers to vacate before they are
forcefully evicted.
10. FINAL NOTICES TO VACATE
In a bid to give the encroachers a final chance to vacate on their own, a
number of activities are being undertaken. A joint pre-eviction and security
assessment exercise was conducted and during this exercise we had a public
address system going through the road and our enforcement team
announcing the impending demolition, eviction and removal and giving
business owners an opportunity to preserve their goods or salvage their
property. Communication on this road will continue even during the exercise.

11. PUBLICITY
We are working with the media to publicize this operation. This is being done
now and will continue throughout the exercise. We will also extensively use
social media. This will be aimed at reaching out and appealing to as many
stakeholders as possible to create buy in. By doing so, we will also be sending
a message to other encroachers elsewhere to vacate before being forced to
do so.

12. CONCLUSION
Clearing encroachers from road reserves is long overdue. We need to take
action for safety and also to relieve the government from future expenditure in
terms of compensation to encroachers when we want to expand the roads.
Removing encroachers is also in compliance with the law which requires that
the road reserves stay clear of any encroachment. We are aware that the
encroachers have been operating their businesses from our road reserves for
a long time and therefore it will not be easy to evict them. However all effort
will be made to ensure that they vacate either voluntarily or by forceful
evictions.

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