Omoro district local council has resolved to petition parliament so that parts of Opit Forest Reserves are de-gazzeting in a bid to pave way for development.
In a resolution approved during the second full council meeting held on Monday, the councilors of the newly created district unanimously resolved to ask parliament to okay the de-gazzeting of 1,743.8 hectares of the central forest reserves.
The petition will be handed to parliament in the coming weeks.
According to the resolution, 59 hectares will be set aside for commercial purposes, 133 hectares for industrial park; 14 hectares will be allocated for the railway station and 64 hectares for industrial purposes.
Another 17 hectares will cater a cemetery, landfills, and lagoon as well as for treatment of solid waste.
Others are; 11 hectares for recreation, 5 hectares for sport stadium, 96 hectares for golf course, 16 hectares for camping site and the use of 142 hectares of the land is yet to be determined in the future.
The remaining acres will be left to protect the eco-systems, district officials said.
Opit Forest Reserves, one of the five forests reserves in Acholi sub region sits on a 3,784 hectares land in the two villages of Wii- Agweng in Lalogi Sub County and Opit Lakwana, all in Omoro District.
Omoro which became operation in July 2016 intends to, among others, build low density housing estates, design green belts, construction prisons, court buildings, in land container depots and recreation centres.
A Central Forest Reserve is a body of forest or woodland managed by the National Forestry Authority (NFA) under the National Forestry and Tree Planting Act.
The New Vision reports today that President Museveni has transferred the management of forest reserves to the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA).
Douglas Peter Okello, the Omoro District LCV Chairperson said on Wednesday this week that the current land where the proposed district headquarters is set to be built is on a 1.5 square kilometer and it belongs to the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Husbandries and Fisheries besides it is limited in size.
“As Omoro District Local Government, we noticed that Opit Animal Holding ground in terms of its size is not adequate for effective development and that will only be purely for administrative units which will be for the district headquarters and Omoro Town council headquarters,” says Okello.
Okello explained that there is urgent need for a bigger land to be secured for future development.
“Why do we want to de-gazzette? One, it’s to ensure that as Omoro district, we have adequate space for provisions of all social services and government facilities that will enhance speedy growth and development. Secondly, we also feel that with the availability of land, if government allows us to de-gazzette, we shall have adequate space for comprehensive design and planning for the Omoro district we collectively want,” revealed Okello.
“If government allows us to de-gazette, it will attract many other investors and therefore Omoro district will have a speedy development. And finally, the President has hinted on several occasions that he (President) wants Omoro to become to be a model district in Uganda. It’s on that basis that we feel, if government allows us to de-gazzette part of Opit Central Reserves, we believe that with proper planning will be a model district in Uganda,” says Okello.
In the last decade, government had already de-gazzeted nine forest reserves in municipal councils across the country. The National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) estimates that at the current rate of depletion of forest cover, Uganda could lose its forest cover by 2050. NEMA notes that Uganda loses 92,000 hectares of forest cover per year.
5 Comments
They keep talking development. No constructive plans except to grab lands from Acoli as a people and destroy the environment. Not a very strong voice of leaders except lutela makayang. Then you hear that A UK company is coming to build a second international airport in Kabaale. When will Uganda put international airport in the Northern region? Almost everything is done from the South for the survival of the all communities. It is about time we write to the UK government about imbalance of this so called development. The UK still has a hand in most things that we suffer in Uganda. Gin lobo pa Muni gitime ni gimito wan ento jami ma gitye gtiyo mwaki miya kiwiye nyuto ni gitye ka kelo peko i kom lwak aye mapol. Cwero ciwiny ka pwud walubo en dini jokgi ni kun pe gimito wan.
Dear Guest, Remember that we never became independent from Britain. Obote I acted almost independently although was a strong supporter of the commonwealth. British supported Amin at the overthrow of Obote I. The British government is in a scramble for survival after BREXIT as a result dusting off old colonial playbook. the so called BP550m loan scheme is a backdoor way for Britain to strong muscle its way into the oil they knew existed as early as 1925. If the oil was not discovered in Acholiland, we would have been relegated to ignominy, Our saving grace is that we have immovable assets like the oil reserves, minerals (unpublished / suppressed), game park, and an access route to the South Sudan Market. The International Airport will be dictated to them by oil activities, just watch and see.
Please leave the Opit forest alone. Acholi is losing so much of its trees to makaa vendors, We need the forest tp ensure seasonal rain and to prevent erosion, Some of the trees are indigenous and a need to conserve them. Imagine that in Washington State (US) and British columbia Canada, they have trees hundreds of years old. DO NOT TOUCH THOSE TREES, Look at Gulu Town degradation. There used to be a treed golf course on Churchill Drive – gone, Behind the mani Post Office they had an arboretum (botanical garden) of sorts – exotic trees. Now good town cannot breathe, its lungs the trees are gone hence the very very hot KARAMA.
You make me laugh ha ha ha
Politic is dirty. When they talk in UK parliament they say, ” We need to work hard to take Acoliland because the land is so good…” The next would be Lango etc.
Our saving grace is the HOT Acholi OOro sun and the marauding malaria vector carrying mosquitoes which protected Uganda from (1) being given to so called Jews to settle (1948) (2) Even now, white oil drillers at the game park look pathetic, like that big lizards mostly found on got-lela. But back to the forest, if MP Anywar could risk her life protecting Mbiira Forest, why does she not protect Opit. Who will sell and pocket the money from the wood-timber. The Deputy Speaker is widely travelled and ought to have observed how they protect their forests in Europe which has more jungle than Africa (factual). Prof Latigo ran from desert like Agoro / Agago to squat in Nwoya area instead of promoting extensive tree planting to prevent desert encroachment in East Acholi, and improve the rainfall regime.