Museveni Promises Swift Port in Jinja President Museveni has pledged to ensure a speedy construction of a port in Jinja, set to link the town to the southern route from the port of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. The port will boost trade between the two countries, and make Ugandan traders less vulnerable to the congestion at Mombasa port and instability in Kenya. The port will have a ship plying the Masese-Mwanza-Kisumu routes. Meeting directors of the Veka Group at their headquarters in Werkendam in the Netherlands recently, President Museveni said he would swiftly remove all the bureaucratic obstacles that have delayed the building of the port. The cargo is great and it is growing, but currently Uganda uses road transport which is expensive and destroys roads. By combining water and rail transport, this will bring down the cost of transport and boost trade, Museveni is quoted in a statement from State House. The president was responding to reports that the leadership in Jinja municipality had delayed the process as a result of so many requests at every stage and that the investors had waited too long. We have already secured the money and a subsidy from Norway for this project. But there are so many requests that have delayed the process. Uganda has a wonderful and beautiful lake and we would like to have more shipyards, passenger ships, fishing boats, transport and dry cargo ships, a statement quoted Peter Versluis, one of the Veka officials, as having said. Veka group is one of the leading ship management firms in the Netherlands, according to the statement. Works on the shipyard and ship are expected to commerce early next year, with the first ship expected to be ready by early 2015. The ship is expected to cost Euros 9.4m (Shs 32bn)and have capacity to carry 90 containers. The project is a joint venture between Veka group and Ronbag Uganda Ltd, forming a company called Veron Shipyards Uganda Ltd. It offers the country and the region the options for moving goods between Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania by water, thereby lowering the cost of doing business. To Jinja residents, this is an opportunity to revive their city. Moses Balyeku, Jinja municipality west MP, told The Observer that the town had for long been in slumber, but the ship would be another shot to boost business there..
Posted on: Sat, 19 Oct 2013 09:22:01 +0000
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