(Posted 10th November 2023)
As Uganda prepares to host the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Summit and the Group of 77 Chambers of Commerce and Industry (G77) conference next year, the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) has been compelled to undertake the rehabilitation and upgrade of at least 15 kilometers of roads leading to the main conference venue at the Speke Resort Munyonyo, among other major road projects going on at present across the city.
The road from the city to Munyonyo has in recent years been suffocated with traffic, much of it coming and going to the Munyonyo access point of the highway to Entebbe, now used by thousands of commuters every workday to avoid the notorious crunchpoints and traffic bottle necks leading into the city along Entebbe road.
The Ggaba road, as it is called, however was never configured and prepared for this kind of traffic increase, already struggling with ever more people moving into the lake side or lake view areas of Buziga Hill and beyond.
The road from the city to Munyonyo, apart from being overloaded, has been damaged in recent time, in part through the extremely heavy rainy seasons Kampala experienced over the past years but in good part also by simply too much traffic and too heavy traffic destroying the road bed.
The road, according to information received, will also be widened in key sections and better turn off points created to reduce jams, making it – when complete – easier for delegates to reach the conference venue at the lake side resort from the hotels in the city and most important, easier for residents and commuters to use.
The Non Aligned Summit and the G77 Summit next year are major events, coming to Uganda by rotation, though Uganda has been slow in taking up the MICE opportunities other countries in the region – notably Rwanda – have taken advantage of, as has South Africa, Ethiopia and Egypt, all of them leading the ICCA charts for the most conferences hosted in Africa.
The formation of a stand alone promotion unit for MICE business, outside the present and often lacklustre public service set up, has long been advocated for by the private sector, but hitherto to little avail.
Next week will the main African aviation conference take place in Kampala, the 55th Annual General Assembly of #AFRAA, the African Airline Association, and over 500 participants, delegates, exhibitors, media and other visitors are expected to assemble in Munyonyo for the event, one of several hosted there ahead of the festive season.
