Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) has secured Shs25 billion to strengthen solid waste management in the capital, as the authority moves to expand garbage collection, acquire new trucks and establish facilities for recovering recyclable materials.
KCCA Executive Director Sharifah Buzeki told Parliament’s Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (COSASE) that the funding was secured through a joint effort with the Ministry of Finance to address persistent challenges in the management of waste across Kampala.
Buzeki said the investment is already being channelled into increasing the city’s waste collection capacity, including the deployment of private contractors and development of waste recovery infrastructure.
According to Buzeki, KCCA has licensed nine private waste collection contractors, pushing the city’s daily waste collection capacity to more than 2,100 tonnes across Kampala’s divisions.
The expansion comes amid longstanding concerns over garbage accumulation in parts of the capital, with KCCA under pressure to improve collection, transportation and disposal of waste as Kampala’s population and commercial activity continue to grow.
New garbage trucks, recovery facilities
Buzeki said part of the Shs25 billion allocation will finance the procurement of new garbage trucks, aimed at strengthening KCCA’s capacity to collect and transport waste from different parts of the city.
The funding will also support the development of Material Recovery Facilities (MRFs), which are intended to improve the sorting and recovery of recyclable materials from collected waste.
Among the projects being developed is a Material Recovery Facility at Buyala, which KCCA says will form part of efforts to shift Kampala towards a more organised and sustainable waste management system.
Rather than treating all collected waste as material for final disposal, recovery facilities allow waste to be sorted so that recyclable and reusable materials can be separated, reducing the volume ultimately sent to disposal sites.
Buzeki grilled over Auditor General’s queries
Buzeki made the revelations while appearing before COSASE, chaired by Muwada Nkunyingi, to respond to queries contained in the Auditor General’s report.
The committee is scrutinising several aspects of KCCA’s operations, including unutilised funds, land assets, procurement and solid waste management.
The appearance provides Parliament with an opportunity to interrogate how public funds allocated to the city authority have been utilised and whether KCCA’s investments are translating into improved service delivery.
The Shs25 billion allocation therefore comes at a critical time for KCCA, which has faced growing demands to overhaul Kampala’s waste management system.
With the authority now reporting a collection capacity exceeding 2,100 tonnes per day, the focus is likely to shift from simply increasing collection to ensuring that waste is efficiently transported, properly processed and sustainably disposed of.
The planned garbage truck purchases and Buyala recovery facility are expected to form part of that broader strategy, while Parliament continues to scrutinise the authority’s spending and implementation of projects.
