DASUDA

Alliance for Sustainable Urban Development in Africa

Smart mobility planning

OTP OMUTIMA – Redevelopment of the Old Taxi Park

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OTP OMUTIMA – Redevelopment of the Old Taxi Park

OTP OMUTIMA – Redevelopment of the Old Taxi Park

Location: Kampala, Uganda
Project type:
Year: 2020-2023
Client: KCCA, Invest International (funder)
Consortium partners: VE-R, MOVE Mobility, Rebel group, BKVV, Movares Prome Consult

OTP has been the place of arrival for passengers coming to visit, trade, shop or sell at the numerous shops, market places and arcades around. The character of this place and the value attached to it, make clear the task to sustain OTP as the most important place in the Downtown area and to make a strong spatial and functional plan for the site. Central to the concept of this plan are the symbiotic character of main place of arrival, central public space and a bustling shopping and market area. Strengthening these functionalities will enhance the symbiosis of functions and make the heartbeat of Kampala even more powerful. Therefore, the concept of the Master Plan emanates this heartbeat. As it is named in Luganda: OTP Omutima Gwa’Kampala.

The master plan covers a larger area at Nakasero hill to Nakivubo valley including a drainage improvement in street infrastructure and water catchment capacity of the lowest valley area, to balance the densification of the urban tissue with a green and blue concept for the former railway lands in the valley.

To allow for the coexistence of different functions, OTP is envisioned as a layered complex. This conceptual gesture is further supported by the twelve meter topographical height difference between the two sides of the plot. The transportation hub is located at the top of a deck which at the same time serves as a roof of a multi-leveled shopping center.

From the three main components of the OTP Omutima plan, the first to mention is the public transport terminal. The terminal is central to a nearby network of mobility functions that include the city bus, BRT and coach station and the pedestrianized Luwum Street. Without the public transport facility and terminal, OTP would not be the Omutima, but the reverse is also true: the commercial functions make OTP a very popular destination for many.

That forms the second component of the Masterplan: By adding a shopping mall to the large array of shopping and commercial activities in the city centre, OTP also enhances its attraction as key node to enter the city centre. The complex can be further enhanced by the addition of three high-rises with flexible programme depending on the market opportunities at the moment of implementation.

Thridly, the OTP is a public transport hub not merely consisting of infrastructure, vehicles and buildings. It is first and foremost a place for people. The OTP Omutima embraces the concept of making room again for people: providing space where pedestrians are comfortable moving through, stopping to wait, to meet, or to connect to the core of the city.  Adjacent to the NMT corridor at Luwum Street, there is a comfortable space for people that offers accessibility and a meeting space that enhances social relations and exchanges.

A sound business case proofs the preliminary feasibility outcomes positive. Further in-depth development of the plan will target the development agreement with a master developer party to implement the layered complex and lift Old Taxi Park into a next century of place of arrival for many.

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Non Motorized Transport Corridor Pilot Kampala

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Non Motorized Transport Corridor Pilot Kampala

Non Motorized Transport Corridor Pilot Kampala

Location: Kampala, Uganda
Project type:
Year: 2010-2016
Client: KCCA, Directorate of Engineering and Technical Services
Consortium partners: MOVE Mobility, Goudappel Coffeng

Congestion, chaos and air pollution are at very high levels in the capital of Uganda. In collaboration with various organisations and the city authorities organisations have been working for several years to get the city centre traffic organised and resolve many of the problems in the process of overarching traffic management. An example is the Kampala City Centre Pilot Project, which introduces sustainable urban transport. UNEP (the United Nations Environment Program) has been part of the project team from the start. MOVE Mobility finished the detailed design and KCCA implemented the NMT pilot project at Luwum Street and Namirembe Road in downtown CBD of Kampala.

Kampala City Centre Pilot Project

The Non-Motorized Transport (NMT) pilot route was developed during this stage for Luwum Street and Namirembe Road, the extension Speke Road – Shimoni Road was designed later. MOVE Mobility worked from ‘big to small’. First, the networks for cycling and cars on a city level were studied (and designed) and then the work focused on the Central Business District and the two streets that could transform from being part of the car network to become for pedestrians and cyclist only. Once the (future) functions of the roads were clear, the design integrated:

  • Car accessibility
  • Cycling and walking infrastructure
  • Public transport; BRT lines
  • Quality of urban space
  • The green structure

The NMT pilot for Luwum Street and Namirembe Road has been executed and in full operation since 2022. The city changed by making these central streets in downtown CBD pedestrianized and a more comfortable place to stay and enjoy in the heart of the most busy commercial area is now offered. Extension of the NMT network and further boosting of the cycle as transport mode is in process at the municipal offices.

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Spatial Development Framework for Kajjansi Junction

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Spatial Development Framework for Kajjansi Junction

Spatial Development Framework for Kajjansi Junction

Location: Kajjansi, Wakiso District Greater Kampala, Uganda
Project type: Wakiso District, Kajjansi Town Council , ULGA Funded by RVO Netherlands via Impact Cluster Program
Year: 2016-2019
Client: Wakiso District, Kajjansi Town Council , ULGA Funded by RVO Netherlands via Impact Cluster Program
Consortium partners: VE-R, MOVE Mobility, BKVV, TwentyOne

Kajjansi is a town in Central Uganda. It is one of the urban centres in Wakiso District and part of the wider influences of the emerging metropolis of Kampala. The Kajjansi area is not only well-known because of its regional market, the area holds many different large industries, institutions, housing estates and companies. The new Junction connecting Entebbe-Kampala Road to the Southern Bypass and Entebbe Expressway created a major change and opportunity in the area. In conjunction with the planned Bus Rapid Transport System with its endpoint at Kajjansi and the recent status upgrade from a village to a town is a promising perspective for Kajjansi, At the moment the energy, waste, drainage and water issues in the area, combined with the major infrastructural, spatial and mobility interventions in the close vicinity of the market and the presence of a variety of local businesses, can become a huge challenge. However, it can also present a great opportunity to develop Kajjansi in a sustainable, circular and inclusive way, so that the area can become a growing economic engine for the community and potentially develop into the second metropolitan node of the Kampala region. This requires an integrated spatial strategy and a highly skilled and experienced team that oversees each component of the strategy.

The Kajjansi Junction Program had the development of this fast growing urban area in Uganda as objective in such a way, that it creates value for the local businesses and communities and at the same time make use of the potential this location has to become a more dense, multi-functional and mix-use Transit Oriented Development hub.

The preparation stage of the program was highly participatory, with the relevant stakeholders fully involved in the process of project identification. This was continued after this inception stage in a two fold development phase: First a thorough analysis of the local situation has been made in which mobility, infrastructure, environmental assets and constraints, current business development and obstacles and spatial opportunities were given insight and full comprehension by all stakeholders. The second phase consisted of design sessions in which the Spatial Development Framework (SDF) was drafted with the key stakeholders.

This resulted in a development plan around a new Public Transport Interchange hub in combination with redevelopment areas with raised density and mix-use functions. The SDF also hold the smaller scale of regeneration in a phased stage of the existing market, in which the current vendors are being supported and the new profile of Entebbe Road made beneficial to the market vendors, costumers, taxi’s and boda’s. The third level is the large, more regional scale, in which the Urban Accelerator function of Kajjansi Junction is explained and guided through wetland restoration and robust ecological design and new town developments like Nakigalala Eco-City.

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Dar Er Salaam BRT phases 1 & 2

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Dar Er Salaam BRT phases 1 & 2

Dar Er Salaam BRT phases 1 & 2

Location: Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Project type: Tender and contracting preparation and support
Year: 2013-present
Client: Dar Rapid Transit Agency (DART)
Consortium partners: Rebel Group, Velma Law (Dar Es Salaam)

The DART BRT project concerns the full-scale implementation and operationalization of a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system in the city of Dar es Salaam to modernize public transport. It is to be a high quality, low-cost public transportation system operating on exclusive infrastructure – offering affordable mobility, urban environmental improvements, and a better quality of life to the residents of Dar es Salaam.

The Dar Es Salaam BRT represents the municipality’s aim to create a comprehensive and well-organized public transport system and is key to managing the city’s increasing traffic in the context of booming population growth. It is deemed to eventually become one of the largest Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) systems in the world and at the time of its conceptualization was a first of its kind in a low-income economy.

Rebel leads a transaction advisory team for the DART Agency for the procurement and contracting of rapid transit bus operations and fare collection and fund management under a PPP arrangement. It does so for phases 1 and 2.

Links: https://dart.go.tz/

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Urban Accelerator Bellville

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Urban Accelerator Bellville

Urban Accelerator Bellville

Location: Bellville, Cape Town, South Africa
Project type: Integrated Concept design for 2nd Public Transport Hub of Cape Town
Year: 2017
Client: City of Cape Town
Consortium partners: VE-R, MOVE Mobility, BKVV

The City of Cape Town had pointed various locations in the urban fabric of the metropolis to become ‘catalytic projects’. These projects should help inclusive development forward at several areas. To find out whether this location could play such a role a series of workshops with city staff and various stakeholders had first of all answer the question: Could this opportunity area become an urban Accelerator?

The area of Bellville is one of the catalytic project locations. In this area the 2nd largest train station in the Cape region is located. It sits besides the centre of the former old village which was connected via a long straight road (Voortrekker Road), and functioned as the intermediate stop from the city centre towards the Stellenbosch hills. Nowadays the Bellville area is fully emerged in the urban fabric. Still the potentials to grow as a strong second node of the metropolis has not been grasped fully. The teams analysis led to the conclusion that an integral vision for the area of which the Bellville station is the centre, is needed. In a series of ‘pressure cooker workshops’ with all professionals involved the contours of a Transit Oriented Development model appeared for Bellville. The position of the station is the perfect accelerator for all sides of the site and stretched over an area of influence much larger than the current CBD for instance.

The vast open and unused spaces around the station are typical for the Cape Town metropolis urban fabric. These need to be inversed and become the drivers of change for this area. Secondly the existing infrastructure needs to be used differently. Instead of investing in very expensive car infrastructure, which will contribute to only more car traffic, the train station needs to be more intensively connected to other mobility functions to create an efficient passenger transit hub. Therefore, a platform above the railway tracks is proposed which can be linked to the existing elevated expressway to accommodate taxis, buses and minibuses with a passenger concourse in the middle connecting the railway below with the other transport means on the sides of the platform. By bending the concourse to the ground floor levels a smooth connection to the existing old village centre can be made and the unused railway yards on the other side can be unlocked.

This Concept design for a masterplan process was welcomed positively by representatives of the City and PRASA (Rail authority of South Africa and owner of the station).                                      

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