Benon Kigenyi, Deputy Executive Director, Kampala Capital City AuthorityBy Prisca WanyenyaKampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) has said UGX768.1Bn is required between 2026 to 2031 to fix floods and drainage channels within the City.The request was made by Benon Kigenyi, Deputy Executive Director, Kampala Capital City Authority, while appearing before Parliament’s Committee on Physical Infrastructure, to respond to questions on how KCCA is prepared for the floods expected in August 2026.He noted, “Kampala’s drainage system remains operational but is under increasing pressure. Sustained investment in drainage infrastructure, strengthened maintenance, improved catchment maintenance and accelerated improvement of the Kampala drainage master plan will be critical and essential to improving the city’s long-term resilience to flooding. The Kampala Drainage Master Plan proposed programme requires UGX768.1Bn over 2026/27 to 2030/31 to finance greater drainage improvement projects, strengthen maintenance capacity, and improve the resilience of Kampala’s drainage infrastructure.”Kigenyi defended the request arguing that although Kampala’s drainage network continues to perform its primary function of conveying storm water across the city; increasing urbanisation, population growth, and changing rainfall patterns have significantly increased demand on the existing infrastructure, resulting in a growth in the number of flood-prone locations and increasing maintenance requirements.The Authority detailed the causes of flooding in Kampala citing; increased encroachment on wetlands and drainage reserves, Rapid urbanisation, population growth and increasing demand on land have placed considerable pressure on Kampala’s natural and engineered drainage systems, arguing that such developments have progressively expanded into wetlands, into floodplains and drainage corridors that historically provided natural stormwater storage and flood attenuation.He explained, “The City continues to experience recurring flooding, resulting from a combination of infrastructure, environmental, institutional and financial challenges. Consequently, several drainage channels are now required to convey flows considerably higher than those originally envisaged during their design. Ageing infrastructure and incomplete drainage links continue to reduce the efficiency of the overall drainage networks; Accumulation of waste together with sediment washed from surrounding catchments reduces channel capacity and increases maintenance requirements, particularly during periods of heavy rainfall.”However, Moses Okia Attan (Soroti City East Division) raised concerns over the failure by KCCA to provide a breakdown of the cost benefit analysis of the UGX768.1Bn being requested for yet floods have destroyed property and lives within Kampala.He noted, “Your report provides no cost-benefit analysis at all. You are asking for the UGX768Bn but there is no cost-benefit analysis, on the economic losses that have been caused by flooding. The biggest people who are impacted are actually our taxpayers, including many of us. It would be good for you also to provide to this committee the losses that have been caused by this flooding because I believe that when we eliminate those losses, that is a cost-benefit analysis that is going to come back to the Government.”Nathan Byanyima (Bukanga North) had no kind words for KCCA describing their presentation as flowery that isn’t in touch with reality on ground, especially areas around Forest Mall in Lugogo, a structure built alongside a drainage channel but no action was taken against the proprietor.“I am taking a back, I did not expect to this city to come and read this story here to us, I wanted a touch of reality. We went with you as a committee to Forest Mall, where the Forest Mall is built, it is on top of a drainage channel. It is completely blocked; we raised the red flag and we thought something would be done. We want somebody who is saying, we are going to do this part and we need this amount of money, but this big amount of money we are talking about, it is going to be to goThe post UGX768 Billion Needed to Fix Kampala Floods and Drainage, Says KCCA appeared first on Business Focus.