Mpigi district authorities and Uganda Tourism Board (UTB) will spend Shs 1bn on a project aimed at beautifying the Equator site to attract more tourists.
Located at Kayabwe Town along the Kampala-Masaka Highway, the Equator site attracts about 1,300 tourists annually.
And now Mpigi district hopes to more than triple that number once the beautification project has been completed.
“The Equator is the best tourism site in our district but its beauty has faded in the past years due to lack of enough care It’s time to modernize it and if this goes on well, other sites near the Equator will also be receiving tourists hence transforming the economy and increasing our annual revenue and household incomes,” said Ronald Kazibwe, the district commercial officer, during a stakeholders’ meeting at The Uganda Equator.
“But if we beautify the site before June 2019, that means we are likely to double the number of tourists visiting us or getting more like 5,000 in the coming years.”
The beautification also means that “the number of traders will increase from the current 500 that carryout businesses at the site”.
According to UTB deputy chief executive officer John Ssempebwa, Shs 180m has already been secured for the initial work on the project.
“We are going to redesign the Equator to reach the standards of the new generation but we have to conserve its originality and preserve the historical documentation of this natural heritage,” said Ssemopebwa.
Additional Reporting: Courtesy
