Gov’s introduces regulations for location of fuel station

By Ben Musanje

4^th May 2022

The Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development has released new regulations for the planning condition and location of fuel stations that only fine about 960,000 shillings to defiant developers.

In these Statutory Instruments signed on April 14, 2022 by the Lands Minister Judith Nabakooba Nalule, the regulations requires developers to acquire a Building permit issued in accordance with Section 36 of the Building Control Act, 2013 before commencing a building operation of a fuel station.

The regulations also require a developer to comply with the National Environment Act, 2019 while constructing a fuel station and possess a Petroleum facility construction permit from the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development.

But they prohibit the establishment of a fuel station in the range of less than 200 meters from the facilities such as a school, place of worship, public library, auditorium, hospital, market and playground as well as to a sensitive ecosystem like a national park, lake, forest, river, stream and a historical site among others.

Minister Nabakooba, while at the Media Center in Kampala launching the Statutory Instrument on Physical Planning Regulations on fuel station location, says that there were several consultations conducted including the Attorney General that approved these regulations for being stringent and guiding for the establishment of new fuel stations in the country.

Amanda Ngabirano, the Chairperson of the National Physical Planning Board –NPPB says they are to conduct a dissemination plan of translating the regulations to local languages that can easily be understood by every Ugandan and also they are to carry an audit on the already existing fuel stations to establish their constructional compliance.