East African Business Week

KAMPALA, UGANDA - Ten contractors have expressed interest in carrying out different activities, as the construction of the long awaited Naguru/Nakawa satellite city started at a slow pace.
According to an official with the developers, Opec Prime Properties Limited, a United Kingdom based real estate developing company, the construction started with site clearance activities as they await for the city development master plan that is expected to be out in six months.
"Initial commencements like site clearing have started. Ten contractors in different activities have so far showed their interest to work on the project," said the official who preferred anonymity.
The contractors include three from United Kingdom and seven from China. No Ugandan contractor has showed interest in the project.
However, when East African Business Week visited the two fenced off sites at Naguru and Nakawa four months after the  eviction of over 1700 tenants, there was no visible activity was going on. "We're still looking for more contractors but these contractors should be locally based. It's not an easy project, so we don't need to rush," added the official who preferred anonymity.
The government evicted the over 1700 adamant Nakawa-Naguru estate tenants in July this year as the developers Opec Prime Properties Limited cited a matter of urgency to re-develop the area into a modern satellite city.
The Naguru-Nakawa housing estates were constructed in the 1950's to accommodate low income earning government employees.
 The housing estate was later condemned by the government in the 1990's as unfit for human habitation.  The search for a new developer started then that led to awarding of the redevelopment contract to Opec Prime Properties.
Opec Prime Properties Ltd is expected to re-develop the 138 acreage land into a modern satellite town at $300m, including the construction of low-cost houses for the resettlement of the 1,745 tenants.