Passing of the resolution created a public uproar especially by environment and tourism activists condemning the act and arguing that the resolution compromises nature and a tourism asset, and accused councilors of passing a resolution with a hidden agenda of greed to grab many of the stalls in the modern market.
The investigation was conducted amidst disagreements between city authorities and market vendors, with many of them refusing to take up lockups allocated to them. The disagreement has also affected the planned relocation of vendors from the temporal market along Serere road to the newly constructed main market.
The Shillings 18 billion project comes just months to the completion of Soroti Central Market under the Market and Agricultural Trade Improvement Program Project-2 MATIP-2. The new project is co- funded by the African Development, 82% and Government of Uganda, 18%.
Moses Otimong, the Soroti Municipal Council Town Clerk, says that much as the contractor, TECHNO 3 Uganda Ltd has completed 95% of the physical works, the finishing might take them up to April due to changes that arose during the monitoring visits by stakeholders.
More than 40 workers led a peaceful procession from the market site under construction in central division and pitched camp outside the Resident District Commissioner’s office.
