Govt clears another vessel for Kalangala
MV NODL Victoria (right) docks alongside MV Kalangala at Nakiwogo Pier on June 13, 2022. PHOTO | EVE MUGANGA
The government has finally cleared another passenger vessel to ply the Entebbe –Kalangala route.
MV NODL Victoria will effective next week operate alongside the MV Kalangala .
The new vessel, which is also managed by National Oil Distributors Ltd (NODL) like MV Kalangala, arrived in the country last October, but the government had delayed to issue it with an operating licence.
According to Mr Sadala Musoke, the executive director of NODL, the new vessel will operate under a private-public partnership where the government will determine the fares to be charged.
“We are having a meeting with ministry of Transport officials on June 15 to agree on the fares and also the route chart,” he said in an interview on Monday.
Maiden trip
On Sunday, the vessel made its maiden trip to Kalangala to test its water worthiness, an expedition that excited islanders.
MV NODL Victoria has two decks with capacity to carry 180 passengers, but they will be paying slightly higher fares compared to what MV Kalangala charges.
“It is true passengers boarding MV NODL will pay different fares compared to what MV Kalangala charges, Also, this new vessel will not be carrying heavy cargo and vehicles as MV Kalangala does, and we are targeting mostly tourists and other travellers with light cargo,” Mr Musoke said.
Currently, passengers travelling in MV Kalangala VIP section pay Shs20,000, first class Shs15,000 and Shs10,000 for ordinary class.
Mr Musoke said the new vessel will be taking less than two hours to sail from Entebbe to Kalangala and would make several trips daily unlike MV Kalangala, which leaves Entebbe in the afternoon, and returns the following day.
Works and Transport Minister Gen Edward Katumba Wamala confirmed that the government had cleared the vessel to operate.
“It [MV NODL Victoria] passed all the rigorous tests and if the owner wants to operate it as an alternative to MV Kalangala, we shall see how government can assist him ,” he said
Mr Ibrahim Ssenyonga, the secretary of Ssese Tourism Development Association, said the new vessel is a big boost to the tourism sector in the islands.
“Tourists have been suffering, especially when MV Kalangala goes for repair and this alternative vessel indeed comes as a big relief,” he said, adding, “But we advise the operator to consider creating another route to other distant tourism sites of Bukasa and Kyamuswa where tourists fear to go due to unsafe means of transport,” he said.
The coming of MV NODL brings the number of vessels plying the Kampala-Entebbe - Kalangala route to four. Others are MV Kalangala, MV Vanessa and MV Natalie .
Being a tourism destination, Kalangala receives a huge number of tourists, both local and international, using Entebbe-Kalangala as their convenient route.
