| Work Detail |
Even as Uganda runs into a shortage of equipment, trains, and wagons, the country’s planned metre gauge railway overhaul, recently entered its latter stages. The initiative, once implemented, will reduce the cost of transportation on the Northern Corridor. Competitiveness in business will also be improved as a result.
According to John Lenon Sengendo, Uganda Railways Corporation (URC) publicist, Imathia Construction, the Spanish company, recently concluded the replacement of steel sleepers with concrete beams on a section of the Namanve-Kampala rail line. The section of the line will be handed over soon. After the handover, he added that the contractor will commence work on the Namanve-Mukono section, which will be the last one.
The rail track will be the second one to be undertaken, coming after the Tororo-Namanve line rehabilitation. It also includes the railway line leading to Jinja Pier, which was carried out over a year ago.
Why transporters, importers, and exporters are reluctant to use the rail
Even though the Malaba-Namanve metre gauge railway condition is currently fair, there is still skepticism among transporters, importers, and exporters, on moving to rail. This comes as a result of a shortage of rolling stock as well as inefficiency. The Northern Corridor’s 90 percent traffic utilizes road transport. It can be approximated that rail transport only carries 7 percent of cargo. This is because the rail infrastructure in the region is in a poor state.
Transportation costs
Varying with the type of cargo, the cost of transportation on the Northern Corridor is relatively high. For road transit, the cost ranges from 20 cents to 25 cents for a tonne per kilometer. Slightly lower, it costs US cents 6 to US cent 12 per tonne per kilometer to ship commodities using rail.
The URC is said to be partly blamed for the rolling stock’s shortage. After reviewing URC’s asset register in June 2022, the country’s Auditor General claimed that 521 wagons belonging to Uganda were situated in different parts of the neighboring country Kenya. |
