Old Tax Park: Kiosk owners Cry foul as KCCA sets date to reopen after renovation

By Mahad Musa

The repairs and upgrade of the old taxi park are almost complete, the Kampala Capital City Authority has revealed. The Authority has also set May 22^nd this year as date to reopen the park to full operation and access to the public.

This has been jotted down in a notice the Authority sent out to the public.

The Park that was closed down in May last year has undergone the renovation of park carpet area and immediate surroundings. Such developments, such as the drainage improvement, parking area and embankment construction have taken a year. The Authority also embarked on beautifying the park.

The Authority says, the remaining projects which include the installation of an Access Control System, putting down all illegal structures, engaging of the taxi operator’s leadership on park governance and leadership origin, labeling of stages and the dry run to test operational readiness will be done between now and May 18.

“KCCA has now substantially completed the construction works to rehabilitate. We are ensuring that the operated and managed in a better way than before,” part of the statement reads.

Since the commencement of the repairs and upgrade of the taxi park, several drivers and taxi operators have been struggling to find the right place to park. Some started jetting into the Kisenyi taxi park while others went to the Clock tower park, just behind USAFI market.

Several of the taxi clients especially from the upscale parts of Kampala were left struggling and resorted to using the Nasser road taxi’s to get to Entebbe and Gaba roads.

The reopening of the taxi park according to Baker Mayambala, a leader in one of the taxi operators unions will immediately help restoring the business which has been a mess.

The operators now await the deliberation of fees that they are mandated to offer to Kampala Capital City Authority for the Park usage.