Kalangala gets fourth ferry
Water transport. Travellers board MV Ssese at Bugala Landing Site in Bukakata in September last year. Government is to acquire a new ferry to navigate the district’s less developed outlying islands. PHOTO BY ERIC DOMINIC BUKENYA.
What you need to know:
- Currently, the island district has three marine vessels, MV Kalangala, MV Pearl and MV Ssese, all docking Bugala Island and leaving the rest of the 84 islands that make up Kalangala District without safe means of transport.
- The new vessel cost Shs4.5 billion, according to the Nation Oil Distributors Limited managing director, Mr Sadala Musoke.
- The ferry has propellers and eco sounders that can be used to map new access routes to the outlying islands.
Kalangala. Government has signed a public-private partnership with Nation Oil Distributors, a private company to acquire a new marine vessel, MV NODL that would navigate Kalangala District’s less-developed outlying islands.
Currently, the island district has three marine vessels, MV Kalangala, MV Pearl and MV Ssese, all docking Bugala Island and leaving the rest of the 84 islands that make up Kalangala District without safe means of transport.
The new vessel cost Shs4.5 billion, according to the Nation Oil Distributors Limited managing director, Mr Sadala Musoke.
The ferry has propellers and eco sounders that can be used to map new access routes to the outlying islands.
The routes
It will ply Kalangala, Buwuvu and Kachanga landing sites, and Bukasa to Entebbe (Port Ace) routes, among others.
Bukasa is the second largest Island in the district.
Mr Musoke said the vessel is being assembled from Turkey by Elkon, a marine technology assembling plant and will be managed by Nation Oil Distributors, the company that handles MV Kalangala.
MV Kalangala plies Entebbe – Kalangala route.
It is expected to dock on Lake Victoria waters on December 31.
MV NODL has a capacity of carrying 200 people and cargo.
Under the arrangement, government will provide free fuel for the vessel and also help in the mapping of routes the vessel will use to reach the said outlying islands.
Ms Carol Nanyondo, the Kyamuswa County MP, said the development will boost transport in the area, which has for long lacked a vessel to ease transportation of people and their properties.
Kyamuswa constituency constitutes the biggest part of Kalangala District.
It, however, relies on canoe and cargo boats for transport.
On several occasions, people have drowned while crossing from one area to another in the canoes.
ABOUT KALANGALA
The district is coterminous with the Ssese Islands in Lake Victoria and does not have territory on mainland Uganda. Like other Ugandan districts, it is named after its chief town, Kalangala which is located on Bugala Island, the largest of the Ssese Islands.
