The mayor of Nakawa division, Kampala district Paul Mugambe has petitioned the managing director of the Uganda Railway corporation (URC) highlighting areas of disagreement in the planned eviction of encroachers on railway land.
Recently, the government warned all encroachers to vacate the railway land before the six-month ultimatum that was given to them expires on 1st October.
The warning noted that URC land would be used to revamp railway transport in the country and over 4000 people are likely to be affected.
URC acquired new four locomotives from South Africa and will facilitate freight services along the Kampala-Naivasha line as the corporation pushes for accelerated rehabilitation of the network.
During the launch, officials said the government should revamp the meter-gauge railway line to save the fast deterioration of roads and reduce costs of doing business.
In an interview with Mugambe, he noted that as leaders in Nakawa Division they are not pleased with the way how URC is handling the process and the residents who are likely to be affected haven’t been engaged.
He appealed to URC to use the Uganda National Roads Authority model of first engaging people before any evictions.
Close to 2000 people are likely to be affected in Nakawa division.
