By Spy Uganda
Kampala: The lands and housing minister, Hon. Judith Nabakooba has presented a new law to cabinet dubbed ‘The Real Estate Bill’ to regulate the real estate business in Uganda .
She made the revelation while officiating at the 2nd National Housing Symposium which also marked the World Habitat Day celebrations at Mestil Hotel in Kampala .
“I presented it (Real Estate Bill) to cabinet and they approved its principles but tasked us to expound on our consultations and benchmarking in a few countries on how they are running their real estate services,” she said adding that a team from the Ministry of Lands has since visited South Africa, India, and Kenya where they bench marked on how best the real estate business can be regulated to stem illegal transactions and fraud.
However, some city lawyers are objecting the idea saying Uganda already has available laws which only need to be implemented and enforced instead of introducing new ones.
”We have the Land Act, the Registration of Titles Act, the Stamp duty Act, the Condominium Act, the mortgage Act, the Suveyors law, The Land lord and Tenant Act 2022. What is this law for? What is it meant to achieve?…One of the law pundits questioned.
Meanwhile Nabakooba has also achieved another milestone after Parliament legislators across the divide supported her proposals.
Parliament has rallied behind the Minister Nabakooba and adopted the ministry’s recommendations for the implementation of the National Physical Planning Act.
The proposals by Nabakooba during a plenary siting on Wednesday, 11 October 2023, received overwhelming support as legislators found it prudent that a national physical plan is urgently needed to propel Uganda’s development.
Top on the minister’s suggestions is the establishment of a conditional grant for the physical planning function for all local governments as this will lift the burden of underfunding which results in low prioritisation exhibited through low budgetary allocations to develop/review and implement Physical Development Plans (PDPs) especially at sub county and district level.
Additionally, the minister also suggested that the issuance of certificates of compliance to strengthen the implementation of PDPs would help strengthen the weak enforcement mechanisms being experienced nationally.
She disclosed that the national PDP, a first of its kind which was presented to cabinet and approved will help in zoning and planning.
“Much as the focus is on towns, cities and municipalities, the law which was amended declared the entire country, a planning area,” she said.
MPs across the divide agreed that indeed for Uganda to solve the issues of urban floods, sewage mismanagement and an absence of numbered homes among others, more effort was needed in the implementation of physical planning policies.
Buyanja East County MP, Hon. Emely Kugonza, reiterated the need for better planning saying that with the constant rise in the number of unplanned towns, the country is gradually turning into a slum.
Hon. Kugonza is worried that the increasing unplanned towns would turn the country into one giant slum
Hon. Rosemary Nyakikongoro, the Woman MP for Sheema District, petitioned the minister to include agriculture in the plan because farmers were setting up crops and animal farms without proper direction.
The Chairperson of the Committee on Physical Planning, Hon. Dan Atwijukire, blamed the disorganisation in physical planning on corrupt officials, who he said, allow citizens to set up illegal structures in town dwellings.
“We must penalise the officials who are unlawfully allowing people to construct at night without physical plans. We want to do a survey to highlight buildings that are being erected at night. We need to criminalise these people,” added Atwijukire, also the MP for Kazo County.
The minister emphasised that the work of the ministry is policy and strategic guidance and that most of the work was to be done by the Ministry of Local Government.
She appreciated the establishment of the Physical Planners Registration Act which requires every district to have a registered physical planner. This, she stressed, will help rid out unqualified physical planners, thereby eliminating the problem of incompetent officials.
Nabakooba, however, noted that although some local governments have plans that expire, since the plans are usually for a period of 10-15 years, the ministry was looking into generating plans that last longer.
The Deputy Speaker, Thomas Tayebwa, directed that the minister returns to the House with an action taken report after three months.
