City businessman, Godfrey Nyakana on Thursday clashed with officials from the Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) over Centenary Park land.
The incident took place when the officials together with members of parliament’s Physical Infrastructure Committee were touring clock tower and Centenary Park to assess progress of the Kampala Fly over project.
UNRA on Wednesday told the committee that Nalongo Estates, a company owned by Kampala businesswoman Sarah Kizito is holding the land for the project pending a Memorandum of Understanding with KCCA.
The Kampala Flyover Construction and Road Upgrading Project is a Shs684 billion project financed through a loan agreement between Uganda and the Japan International Cooperation Agency-JICA.
The proprietor of Nalongo Estates Limited Sarah Kizito and her husband Godfrey Nyakana refused to vacate the premises to pave way for Construction of Kampala Flyover on grounds that their lease was extended.
According to Kizito, the issue regarding the land was already resolved and they are only waiting for the memorandum of understanding from the Attorney General.
“We do have dispute here in which we came to parliament and later we also went to see the president. So the matter was resolved and we are supposed to get a memorandum of understanding from the Attorney General,” she said.
She said the agreement was about only 2 hectares of land for the construction of the multibillion project.
William Matovu, the Head of Land Acquisition at the roads body informed MPs that one of the challenges that might delay the project is failure by the authority to secure land at Centenary Park.
Nyakana asked Kampala Capital City Authority to sit with immediate effect so that the matter can be addressed amicably.
The committee chaired by Nakifuma County MP Muhammad Kafeero Sekitoleko resolved to summon Nalongo Estate to appear before the committee together with the Solicitor General and KCCA after obtaining all documents relating to the land deal and the MoU as well as the directives from the president.
“We are going to have a boardroom meeting between Nalongo Estate, the Attorney General, KCCA and UNRA so that we can get this matter resolved,” he said.
Nalongo Estates has previously been at the centre of controversy in 2017 when the company blocked KCCA from accessing the same land to enable the demarcation for the National Water Sewerage and Corporation (NWSC) water installations.