ENTEBBE: Contractor on Spot over Delayed Completion of Kitooro Taxi Park

By Sadique Bamwita

ENTEBBE

The Managing Director of Scaffold  Engineering and Construction services, Mr. Patel Denesh is under fire over delayed completion of Kitooro taxi park which he had pledged to hand over to council last month.

This is the second time he makes an empty promise after earlier this year pledging to complete the taxi park in March 2024 but unfortunately he didn’t make it and asked for time extension.

Some tenants who were originally in Kitooro Taxi Park told this reporter on August 6, 2024, that the contractor needs to explain to Council why he has delayed to complete the construction of the taxi park.

According to Entebbe Municipal Council, the contractor had earlier indicated that he would be able to complete the work before the end of March 2024 unfortunately he was unable to achieve that.  As a result, he was charged with liquidated damages for the delays that happened.

Recently, Entebbe Municipal Town Clerk, Emmanuel Gacharo Mugisha, noted that sometimes they find themselves between a rock and hard place and that’s the reason why council can’t terminate the contract but instead opted to charge the contractor with liquidated damages.

He also revealed that Council agreed on the timeline with the contractor and he agreed to complete the work in time though work is still in progress.

On the issue of reinstating tenants who were originally in Kitoro Taxi Park, the Town Clerk noted that the process will be transparent and brokers won’t be entertained at all. He added that council has a register of all tenants who were in Kitooro Taxi Park and that some of them possess letters which indicate they are the genuine tenants.

In June this year, Mr. Denesh Patel, told the press that the taxi park would be finished in a month time and that only some small finishing was remaining. However till now, the contractor has not completed the construction works despite promising to complete the work in June 2024.

It should be recalled that in May 2022, a total of over 300 traders and taxi operators were evicted from Kitooro Taxi Park to pave way for redevelopment of the taxi park.