Uganda Kikulu Zone: Rising to a modern residential area

Most houses in Kikulu are surrounded by perimeter walls. Photo by Keith Wafula 

In Summary

• Public services. The beauty with Kikulu Zone is that it sits centrally between a number of high end developed and developing places where social services such as banks, schools and hospitals can be accessed at any time of the day or night. These places include Ntinda, Bukoto, Kyanja and Kisaasi trading centre that is developing into a busy commercial centre.
• If your place of work is within the vicinities of Ntinda, Bukoto and Naguru, Kikulu is ideal because you would then spend less on transport to and from work. This also helps you avoid or dodge the rush-hour traffic to and from the city centre.
  Kikulu is not only home to an average number of retail shops but it also has mini supermarkets selling home basics. It also has scattered restaurants where people who may not prepare meals at home can find comfort for meals.

By Roland D. Nasasira

Although Masanafu is near the city centre which would most likely push the cost of rent high, it is instead affordable.

This also partly explains why the area is densely populated with a beehive of activities going on including carpentry, food stalls, boutiques, betting houses and salons, among others.

Tall brown structures, with storeys beginning from three and above are all you set your eyes on when you reach Kikulu Zone in Kisaasi. The area sits on a gently sloping land, which gives it relatively good drainage. It is separated from Bukoto by the Kampala Northern Bypass.

Away from storeyed buildings, with majority of them comprising furnished apartments, most residential houses in Kikulu, even those that are rented, are surrounded by perimeter walls. These houses are easy to access, courtesy of a number of feeder roads that are channelled on almost every perimeter wall.

Abdu Nsamba, a broker dealing in land and rental houses in Kikulu, opines that the main compelling factor for most people to reside in the area is the ease with which it can be accessed from the city centre. Not only is it affordable by public means at Shs1,500 or Shs2,000 by commuter taxis from Kampala but it also has a number of access routes such as Gayaza, Kyebando Ring Road and the Kampala Northern Bypass that residents are at liberty of using. It is located approximately eight kilometres from town.

“If you compare this place (Kikulu) to other places such as Ntinda and Bukoto, the cost of rent is relatively affordable if you are the kind of person who works from town and do not want to stay far,” Nsamba says.
“If you wish to rent a double roomed self-contained house in this area, you would have to part with between Shs300,000 to Shs400,000. For houses that have two bedrooms, a living room and are self-contained and fenced off, you would have to part with approximately Shs500,000 and above depending on its size,” Nsamba adds.

Renting residential houses with at least three or more bedrooms, he says is between Shs700,000 and Shs1.5m, while renting a fenced off apartment is between Shs800,000 and Shs1.5m per month.

Security of the place
Joel Kiwanuka (not real name), an officer at Kisaasi Flyover police post, says security in Kikulu is collective responsibility under the neighbourhood watch system. However, personal responsibility is key.
“Much as we emphasise to the residents to develop an attitude and spirit of keeping an eye on their neighbour’s property and lives, as police, we also encourage them to take care of their lives and property at a personal level. You do not have to leave or abandon your house wide open simply because your neighbour is always around to keep an eye for you. Your security primarily starts with you and secondarily with your neighbour,” Kiwanuka explains.

“When you move around the area in the night, you will realise that most houses have bright security lights on their fences. It is something we encouraged them to install because it is for their own safety,” Kiwanuka adds.
Alfred Tumwebaze, a resident in the area, says for the eight years he has been in Kikulu, the element of some residents knowing each other somewhat gives him comfort and strength that Kikulu is a safe place.

“When I choose to take a walk, it is hard to return home when I have not met someone I know on the road. They may not be my immediate neighbour but I keep in the area knowing that someone else I know is within my neighbourhood,” Tumwebaze says, adding that when you are driving or walking late in the night, you are not scared or worried of being robbed but that this should be done with knowledge of a neighbour or someone you left at home.

rnasasira@ug.nationmedia.com