Kampala is the best city to live in East Africa, according to the latest global survey of capitals offering quality life.
The New York-based consultancy Mercer, in its 2018 quality of living survey, ranks Uganda’s capital at position 172 out of 231 cities, having improved by one position to cement its score as the region’s best city to stay.
To rank the cities, the survey examined the levels of traffic congestion, quality of public transport, electricity supply and banking services.
Other indicators include crime levels, education, political stability, housing, food availability and entertainment.
Kenya’s Nairobi came in second at position 186 while Rwanda’s Kigali came in third at position190, having improved two positions, while Tanzania’s Dar es Salaam stagnated at position 199.
The ranking offers a preview of a country’s level of development and the city’s ability to attract and retain investors, expatriates and tourists.
It also guides multinationals in their assessment of the pay for their staff in different countries in which they have operations.
“Factors such as climate, disease and sanitation standards, ease of communications, and physical remoteness can often affect the success of a foreign assignment,” says the report.
Moreover, the local political and social environment, political violence, and crime may give rise to potentially uncomfortable, inconvenient, or even dangerous situations. To encourage mobility, reliable information is needed to help calculate fair, consistent expatriate compensation for hardship locations, says the report.
Kampala which is run by Kampala City Capital Authority (KCCA) headed by executive director Jennifer Musisi has in the past few years witnessed the expansion of roads to cut traffic jams, garbage collection as well as installation of streetlights and widening of sewerage channels.
Port Louis of Mauritius emerged Africa’s best city to live in after being ranked at position 83 globally followed by South Africa’s Durban and Cape Town.
Globally, Vienna emerged top for nine years in a row, followed by Zurich while the bottom is Baghdad in Iraq.
KCCA’s mission is to offer quality services to city dwellers. An independent survey released by the World Bank in December last year reveled that about 90 percent of Kampala residents are satisfied with KCCA’S improved roads, signalized junctions, street lights and walkways.
Kampala voted East Africa’s best city to live in
