(Posted 19th September 2024)
Effective next Monday, 23rd September, will the Karuma bridge, northern Uganda’s lifeline to the rest of the country, be closed for all traffic to facilitate major repair work.
The bridge has for four months now been closed for heavy vehicles and busses, allowing saloon cars and motorcycles to pass, but the total closure of the bridge will now necessitate that all traffic will have to pass through the Murchison Falls National Park. This substantial detour will cost both time and extra fuel and raise yet more complaints from tourists visiting the park about the impact of the added traffic.
ATCNews had in May this year reporteda about this development:
Murchison Falls National Park braces for sharp increase of heavy transit traffic
UNRA has repeatedly said the alternative route through the park is fully paved and involves a much shorter distance of only 20km through the Murchison Falls National Park. However their claim that the sharp rise in traffic along this route is significantly reducing the impact on wildlife movement and behaviour has met with complaints and strong arguments by conservationists and tourists visiting the park and witnessing the heavy traffic.
The bridge closure is expected to last for three months, at least, to allow for the required repairs of the bridge surface.
In the long run does the Uganda government plan to have another bridge constructed similar to the one crossing the river Nile in Jinja but at this stage have no funds been budgeted for nor have any donor countries come forward to assist with grant or preferential credit funding.
