UWA waives Paraa route levy for only buses, trucks

Only buses, lorries and trailers will from today be exempted from paying the mandatory charges for transiting through the Paraa section of Murchison Falls Park, Uganda National Roads Authority (UWA) announced yesterday.

 UWA Executive Director Sam Mwandha, in response to our inquiries, said motorists in smaller capacity vehicles that are allowed to cross the bridge over River Nile at Karuma must pay applicable charges if they choose to ply via Paraa.
The Paraa stretch is popular with tourists destined for game drives and birding in Uganda’s largest park and home to 76 mammal and 450 bird species, respectively, according to UWA.

 “For the trucks that are going to pass through [Paraa] … those are the only ones we shall allow inside the park to pass without any payment,” Mr Mwandha said, “[For smaller vehicles], they will have to pay the fees because we shall consider them to be tourists, and that is final.”
Citing structural failure with Karuma Bridge, Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) on Friday announced that only vehicles with a carrying capacity of 28 passengers or under will be allowed to cross the overpass, starting today.

Diversion
Haulage trucks plying between southern and northern Uganda, the roads authority noted, are being diverted via Jinja and Soroti if head to Lira or from Kafu River via Masindi town to Paraa onwards to Pakwach (and vice versa) to connect to Gulu or West Nile.
The location of Karuma Bridge on River Nile is considered the geographical boundary between northern Uganda and the rest of the country, and route connects through Acholi Sub-region to South Sudan and through West Nile to the Democratic Republic of Congo as well as South Sudan.

The diversion of buses and trailers from Kafu and Pakwach, respectively, means businesses in trading centres along Kampala-Gulu highway such as Bweyale and Karuma itself, where hotel/lodge proprietors and roadside food vendors rely heavily on transiting passengers, will be starved of cash.
That money will more likely now move to Masindi and Pakwach, the two towns of final stop on either side before travelers enter Paraa. 
In yesterday’s interview, Mr Mwandha said they will not suffer revenue losses because the heavy-duty trucks now diverted to use Paraa route had not been passing there, while smaller cars and their passengers will be obliged to pay.

Smaller cars, he observed, are not among traffic blocked from using Karuma Bridge and such motorists will be considered, and charged as, tourists if they choose to transit through Paraa.
The Authority imposes between Shs30,000 and Shs40,000 per car, depending on the size, while every passengers parts with Shs25,000 to cross through Paraa. Children under 6 years are exempt.
 The distance between the two gates of Paraa section of Murchison Falls National Park - Kichumbanyobo to the south and Tangi to the north - is roughly 80 kilometres. 

 However, a 40-kilometres-per-hour speed limit means driving on the newly-surfaced oil road takes a minimum of two hours. A motorist is fined Shs100,000 if they arrive at either gate under the prescribed time.