Kampala Launches Address Model & Computer Aided Mass Valuation System

The Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) has launched the Address Model (CAM) and the Computer-Aided Mass Valuation System (CAMV). The CAM/CAMV System is a well-timed addition to the Kampala administration.

While addressing participants at the launch of the new navigation system at Imperial Royale Hotel, Erias Lukwago, KCCA Lord Mayor said that “The Computer-Aided Mass Valuation (CAMV) project was designed to ensure that the tax register is updated. The intent is to accurately capture the property tax obligation of each immovable property owner. On top of that, it is set to improve on the tax regime by guaranteeing accuracy and fairness in assessing the same.” He said as KCCA, beyond accountability, they owe the citizens of Kampala transparency and equity in the collection of taxes. He added that there was a need to improve navigation in the city because it’s still a problem.

To a finer detail, this valuation exercise was synchronised with the City Address Model (CAM) to have a modernised location detail of addresses pegged onto each property. KCCA records indicate that over 340,000 properties in the city have been uniquely identified with house numbers and over 7,500 roads assigned names, challenges notwithstanding.

“This development constitutes a huge milestone towards addressing the current messy GIS system and will go a long way in improving the navigation system as envisaged in our mission and vision of building a well-planned, modern, livable, sustainable, attractive, user-friendly and functional city befitting the Pearl of Africa.”

This initiative is also a big step towards easing the visualisation of spatial relationships in the e-commerce business as the business community will be able to leverage this navigation system. It will in turn help them derive profit initiatives through locating their clientele. Apparently, special hire drivers or Boda Boda riders who have revolutionised transportation by a click of a button, catering services and franchise owners whose amenities depend on knowing the location of their customers, among others, have been handed a springboard to foster their operations.

“We are optimistic that this will guide us in addressing the concerns of several property owners and the compliance challenges arising from the current unfair tax regime. We proposed adopting a banded system to phase out of the omnibus 6 per cent rate as property tax set by our predecessors,” said KCCA Deputy Executive Director, Eng. David Luyimbazi.

The engineer further added that KCCA also intends to waive property owners who don’t meet a certain threshold to be exempted but also, have a reasonable one for the affluent. These processes and decisions will be arrived at in the near future. The CAM/CAMV system was supported with funding from the World Bank and ASToN (Smart Cities) along with other development partners.