Tamarcked Soroti-Moroto road boosts transport, trade

SOROTI/ MOROTO- There is significant shift in traffic flow on the 150-kilometre Soroti-Moroto road, with no more past tales of meandering through potholes and vehicle breaking down.

Previously, vehicles plying the road would get stuck for weeks and traders’ perishables would rot away besides transport fares shooting up, especially during rainy season.

But this is no more after the construction works that kicked off on November 1, 2016. The road is being funded by the government of Uganda and other development partners to the tune of Shs646.8b
The 150Km stretch of first class tarmac, starts from Teso College Aloet in Soroti District, through the plains of Amuria, Katakwi District and ends in Nadunget Sub-county, in Moroto District.

According to the road users, the upgrading of the road has eased movement and lowered transport fares to Moroto to Shs20,000 from Shs25,000. The cost of transporting a sack of 100kg of grain on trucks has also dropped from Shs15,000 to Shs10,000.

Travel hours have reduced by half from the previous four.
Other benefits include easy transportation of patients upon referral and improved business in the various trading centres.

With works, on the Soroti-Akisim stretch at 65 per cent complete and Akisim-Moroto at 86.38 per cent, under Chinese Communication Construction Company (CCCC) and China Railway Group 3 Construction Company respectively near completion.

“Commuter taxis were unseen here; you either saw Gateway buses, long trucks delivering merchandise, army trucks, and UN or NGO vehicles. Now with the tarmac, new taxis have hit our road,” Mr Joseph Lomonyang, the Napak District chairperson, said on Wednesday.
Mr Lomonyang said the prices of food are expected to drastically fall because of the new road.

“Our people who waited for businessmen to deliver grain from Teso, are now traveling to Ocorimongin Market in Katakwi and Arapai Cattle Market in Soroti,” he added.

But to John Okonya, a resident of Orungo corner, Guyaguya Sub-county, Katakwi District, the nightmare of traveling on the road before its upgrade is still vivid to him.

“I recall a woman delivering one evening on that road as we waded through the mud using a motorbike in 2014. There is a sick mother who died in Olilim as she was being taken to Katakwi hospital,”
“Slowly, we are seeing small business points sprouting, people who received compensation money from Uganda National Road’s Authority (Unra) have put up structures by the roadside, Orungo corner is now a business point. People here received more than Shs700m in compensation, the new houses you see here were built using that money,” Mr Okonya added.

Mr Joseph Aurien, the chairperson of Amukurat Cell in Orungo Corner, said they are planning to seek a township status because of the development.

“A part from livestock, we virtually have nothing to transport to the market to make use of this road. We need government to take a close study on which friendly farm project people on this road can undertake, in order for us to exploit the road,” he said.

Mr Ibrahim Emuron, a welder at Ngariam Trading Centre, said until recently, when tarmac touched Ngariam, it was difficult for him to transport his materials due to high transport costs.

UNRA position

Mr Mark Ssali, the Unra communications officer, said works on Soroti-Moroto road are expected to be completed this year.
“We expect to have the Akisim –Moroto stretch completed by April 30, while Soroti-Akisim will be completed by November 1, at this rate all is not bad, we are already witnessing a significant shift in traffic flow,” Mr Ssali explained.

He confirmed to date, that 2,084 out of 2,538 people have been compensated on the Akisim-Moroto stretch, while 945 people out of 1,199 have received compensation on the Soroti-Akisim stretch.
Mr Ssali, however, appealed to road users to guard and respect road signs to avoid cases of road carnage in future.

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