Costs, saving to travellers in Karuma Bridge closure

The planned three-month closure of Karuma Bridge on Kampala-Gulu highway to heavy-duty traffic starting today, will increase travel time and costs to Acholi and Lango sub-regions while savings costs for travelers to West Nile.

Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) announced at the weekend that starting today, heavy-duty trucks plying the Kampala-Gulu or West Nile routes will be diverted at River Kafu via Masindi town onwards to Paraa and exit onto the Pakwach-Karuma thoroughfare at Tangi gate.

According to the roads agency, motorists heading to Lira can alternatively use the Kampala-Iganga-Nakalama-Tirinyi-Pallisa-Kumi-Soroti road or vice versa if from upcountry to the capital. Our computations using Googlemaps show that the diversion of traffic between Gulu and Kampala through Masindi-Paraa-Pakwach route would increase the distance by 85 kilometres compared to the 335-kilometre drive between Uganda’s capital and the biggest city in northern Uganda.

With drivers estimating that a bus, the vehicle of choice for passengers on the route, covering six kilometres on a litre, it means the 85 kilometres would require 211 extra litres, or a spend of Shs55,000 more to fill the tank for the journey.
However, those plying between Arua-Pakwach-Kampala route via Paraa and Masindi will breathe a sigh of relief from avoiding the longer and jagged Pakwach-Karuma stretch, potentially saving time and tear and wear to the vehicles.

Theirs is, however, a catch: The road between Tangi and Kichumbanyobo, the northwestern and southern gates into Paraa section of Murchison Falls National Park is about 80 kilometres, but a strictly enforced 40-kilometres-per-hour speed limit means the trip takes a minimum of two hours despite the good being newly paved.

Violators are fined Shs100,000 at either gate.  In addition, vehicles are not allowed to drive through Paraa at night and a 5pm limit to enter the park from either side means many travellers caught by time would have to spend a night in their vehicles, or incur unplanned accommodation costs, in either Masindi or Pakwach – the two towns nearest to the park gates. 
 
Uganda Wildlife Authority yesterday did not speak to the potential of increased human-animal conflict due to anticipated heavier traffic and noise on the relatively narrower and undulating park road. Its Executive Director Sam Mwandha said they will not lose revenues since smaller cars and passengers transiting through Paraa will be charged applicable park entry while trucks and buses diverted to use the route without paying were not an initial income source for the Authority.   
  
The bridge on River Nile at Karuma is a central national asset, inter-connecting traffic and business outside and or within other parts of Uganda to the north and onwards to larger markets in South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Residents in Karuma town, just like counterparts in other key trading centres along the Gulu highway such as Bweyale, worried that their lodges will be empty and demand for roadside roast food would plummet, sending vendors momentarily into unemployment.
We were unable to obtain the daily volume of traffic that crosses the overpass, the marker of the geographical divide of northern and southern Uganda, or the revenue accrued from deliveries across it to the region and beyond.

Our calculations show that traveling to or from Lira to Kampala via the east will be marginally longer than using Gulu highway, with a turn to Lira off Corner Kamdini trading centre.
Transport operators and business leaders interviewed for this article raised the likelihood that transport fares and prices of commodities in affected upcountry destinations are likely to rise.
Mr Benard Matsanga, spokesperson for Northern Uganda Drivers’ Union, said additional fuel expenses they incur on longer routes will be passed onto passengers.

 The trips, he noted, will take longer, which may tempt drivers to speed or travelers will experience delayed arrivals.
Mr Matsanga, however, welcomed the closure of Karuma Bridge to heavy traffic from today, lauding the government for prioritising safety and he urged fellow motorists to respect road and traffic signs.