Along with the Northern Corridor, the Central Corridor, extending from Uganda to Dar es Salaam port in Tanzania via Lake Victoria, provides an alternative route for international trade for Uganda.

Uganda’s use of the Central Corridor for international trade has been limited owing to multiple infrastructure-related issues, such as inefficient railway operations, inadequate vessel fleet and terminal infrastructure, among others.

“However, the planned developments, including the state-of-the-art intermodal port Bukasa on Lake Victoria in Uganda and the development of the SGR between Dar es Salaam and Mwanza port in Tanzania, are expected to enhance the competitiveness of this route for Uganda as an alternative to the Northern Corridor,” reads the interim report.

If this comes to fruition, government’s dream in partnership with TMA of developing a modern and cost-efficient rail freight logistics corridor in Uganda would have been achieved.

The envisaged corridor would primarily focus on two routes, namely; Kasese-Kampala-Tororo and Tororo-Gulu-Packwach. It would also have a positive impact on the region as a whole. The proposed corridor will include operations of the two railway systems, namely, the existing meter gauge railway (MGR) and the proposed SGR system, inland ports including the existing Jinja Pier and Port Bell, and the planned Bukasa inland port.

Bad and good news
Uganda’s transport system hevily depends on roads to move over 90 per cent of freight volumes. This is primarily pegged to limited infrastructure and operational challenges in railway and water transport systems that have kept these modes underutilised in moving cargo volumes.

But continued under-development of the rail transport mode exerts pressure on road transport, leading to transportation inefficiencies and subsequently premature road damage from these heavy loads. This later requires avoidable capital investments in maintenance and rehabilitation, resulting in higher transport costs.

According to the interim report, commissioned by Ministry of Works and Transport, in partnership with TradeMark Africa (TMA) whose objective is to have a modern and cost-efficient freight logistics system in Uganda, details some disturbing challenges of the current transportation system.

Issues such as limited operational railway network of 250Km, infrastructure and operational bottlenecks related to water transportation on Lake Victoria, challenges on the rail link between Mwanza and Dar-es-Salaam, must be addressed to achieve the multimodal transport system.

Studies show that rehabilitating the Meter Gauge Railway on Mwanza to Dar es Salaam will resurrect the defunct rail routes, providing network strength to railways in the country.
Developing the Standard Gauge Railway connecting Mombasa to Kampala via Kisumu and Naivasha in Kenya will provide a speedy rail connection to the region. This is in addition to development of the intermodal port at Bukasa that is expected to enhance strengthen the competitiveness of water transport. All these will boost freight demand and the competitiveness of Central Corridor, an oil exploration and setting up of refinery in Uganda.

Speaking about multimodal transport during the launch of the Uganda International Trade Fair concluded recently, President Yoweri Museveni reaffirmed the need for multimodal transport.

He said: “We are working with Kenya and Tanzania to build the railway between Kisumu and Naivasha. Once we reach Kisumu, we shall use water transport to move cargo from there to Jinja, Kataba and then to Rwanda through River Kagera.”

He continued: “That will be in addition to the construction of the railway from Tororo to Lira, joining Southern Sudan. With that the problem of transport will be solved. We shall also have the railway connect to Dar-es -salaam and Mwanza and then use water transport from there to bring cargo here.”

Analysts have their say (here I can have their pictures if you want-Mugshot)
Speaking to journalists, the coordinator, National Logistics Platform (NLP), Ms Diana Karimba said rail operations have been a nightmare.

“The rail network of 1,266km has been reduced to about 330km, with the service provided being intermittent. This has caused delays and over reliance on road transport resulting in higher transport costs. So the need for a cost efficient rail freight system cannot be over emphasised in developing an intermodal transport system. This will greatly contribute to our objective of transforming Uganda into a Distribution Hub,” Ms Karimba said.

Ms Sandra Kirenga, an economist and manager programmes TMA, believes that without the right coordination of transport infrastructure, very little will be achieved in turning the country into a hub for trade, distribution and production.

She said: “To achieve efficiency at a reasonable cost, multimodal transport system is the way to go.”