Uganda Railways Corporation (URC) has lined up several projects to be implemented in the next Financial Year 2024/2025.
URC board technical committee chairperson, Andrew Muguluma, said all the projects are within their mandate of being the preferred passenger and cargo mode of transport in Uganda in line with the government wishes in NDP III of lowering the cost of doing business in Uganda.
We are now working on the Kampala-Namanve project, which will soon be finished. Funding for Tororo-Gulu comes entirely from the Ugandan government. We will begin the African Development Bank project, which will address some of the unfinished portions of the Kampala-Malaba route, in July of the upcoming fiscal year. Port Bell and Kyengera in Kampala. To be able to use the rails that we have built, we will begin the process of acquiring better passenger carriages and locomotives, Muguluma stated.
Even though Uganda is developing its standard gauge railway at a different pace than other countries, he claimed that the country is catching up to the current infrastructure.
During a two-day risk management training session for the Uganda Railways Corporation’s board and upper management, Muguluma spoke with New Vision.
He noted that competent individuals were required to oversee investments in the railway industry and safety.
The government has made significant investments in the rail industry, according to Leonard Kerezya, senior principal auditor in the Office of Auditor General, who urged URC top management to conduct engineering audits in order to address risks.
According to him, due to inadequate infrastructure driving up transportation costs along the northern corridor (the Malaba-Kampala rail line), only 7% of traffic in Uganda travels by rail. This means that over 90% of traffic in Uganda moves by road.
“As a landlocked nation, Uganda requires sufficient railway services to move cargo and lower the cost of road transportation,” he stated.
The government committed to building a multimodal transportation infrastructure as part of NDP III (FY2020–2025) in order to increase the nation’s competitiveness through investments in better and more affordable transportation.
SGR undertaking
The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, and other partner states of the Northern Corridor Integration Projects (NCIP) decided last month to pool resources to expedite the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) project’s development.
The Joint Ministerial Committee on SGR met in Mombasa, Kenya, and decided to take this action.
The transportation ministers restated their determination to finish the remaining SGR portions as soon as possible, from Kenya’s Naivasha to Rwanda, Uganda, South Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Kenya pledged to restart building on the Naivasha-Kisumu-Malaba and Kisumu-Malaba SGR sections, respectively, beginning in July and September of 2024.
Subject to the availability of resources, Uganda is also anticipated to begin building on Malaba-Kamppala in September. The country is currently nearing the conclusion of discussions with Yapi Merkezi, the prospective contractor.
URC directive
URC is a business entity that answers to the Ministry of Transportation and Works. It was founded to carry out railway, marine, and road services for the carriage of goods and passengers both inside and outside of Uganda, as required by the Uganda Railways Corporation Act, Cap 331.
URC’s network of tracks spans 1,266 kilometers in total.
