The construction of Justice Law and Order Sector (JLOS) House in Uganda has finally commenced and it will be located in Naguru. The JLOS house will be a one-stop centre for the Justice Law and Order Sector. It will be home to institutions such as the Justice ministry, Internal Affairs Ministry, the High Court, Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Uganda prisons, Uganda Law Reform Commission, Uganda Human Rights Commission, and the Tax Appeal Tribunal.
The project will be implemented in three phases, the first of which, covering a total of a five-acre piece of land will consist of three 11-storey Jlos Towers that according to Rachel Odoi Musoke, the Senior Technical Advisor in the Judiciary, will be occupied by the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs and also by the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
With Symbion U as the project consultant, and Seyani Brothers and Company Ltd as the contractor, the first phase of the project will be carried out within a span of 49 months to be completed in 2024.
The one-stop centre for the Justice Law and Order Sector, which will also accommodate the Judicial Service Commission, the Center for Arbitration and Dispute Resolution, the Ugandan Registration Services Bureau, the National Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA), and the JLOS secretariat will also offer customized accommodation for front-line Jlos institutions with 60,040 square meters of office space and parking big enough to accommodate more than 2,300 vehicles.
Expectations for the project
Once completed, according to the acting Justice minister, Wilson Muruli, who spoke at the sod-cutting ceremony recently, the facility will save the government $6.9 million annually in renting office space for important justice institutions.
The minister reckoned that JLOS House’s most immediate value will be its capacity to enable the government to offer public services in a cost-effective way and timely manner, adding that the one-stop centre will help litigants avoid the need to move from one place to another in search of judicial institutions.
Reported earlier
Jul 2021
Construction of US $60M JLOS house in Uganda to begin
Construction of the Justice Law and Order Sector (JLOS) House in Uganda is set to begin. This follows a consultancy contract signed between Solicitor General, Mr Francis Atoke with Mr Pius Muli, Group Managing Director of Symbion Uganda Ltd, the project developers.
The US $60M project situated in Naguru, Kampala will have four components; the JLOS House, the Criminal Court House, the Appellate Courts and the headquarters of the Uganda Police Force. The JLOS House will provide office accommodation through a green and intelligent building for JLOS institutions as a one-stop centre to facilitate and improve service delivery and increase access to JLOS services.
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Project delay
The one-stop centre will also feature a parking space for more than 2,300 vehicles, a gym, a restaurant, and other social amenities. The construction period is expected to last two years. The project whose plans were born back in 1999 and moved through many stages including the use of Public-Private Partnership, was launched back in December 2019 with a 24 months completion timeframe. The delays to construct the facility have mainly been attributed to hurdles in procurement procedures.
“JLOS institutions are in parts of the city that are not easily accessible yet the mandate of these institutions are complementary and require close proximity for communication, cooperation and coordination. The rented premises occupied by JLOS institutions were not custom-designed for the provision of its services. Their location in different places has resulted in decreased accessibility of services to the public, especially the poor and marginalised who often have difficulties in finding their way to the right institution. The JLOS house will save the government a lot of money in rent annually,” said Mr Atoke.
