Karuma bridge closure: Buses need extra 30 litres of fuel on eastern route
Comfort Travelers' screw shift passengers' luggage to a waiting bus at the T-Junction after crossing Karuma Bridge to continue with their journey to Lira City on May 7, 2024. PHOTO/BILL OKETCH
What you need to know:
- The bridge on River Nile at Karuma is a central national asset, inter-connecting traffic and business outside and or within other parts of Uganda to the north and onwards to larger markets in South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
- It’s now hard to get enough passengers to occupy all the bus seats
The diversion of traffic between Lira and Kampala through Soroti-Kumi-Pallisa-Tirinyi-Nakalama-Iganga has increased distance by 75.7 kilometres compared to 338-kilometre drive between Ugandan Kampala and Lango principal trade centre through Karuma.
Our computations with the help of Google maps show a bus setting off from Lira to and from Kampala using the eastern route would need extra fuel of 30.28 litres.
If a pump station is selling a litre of fuel at Shs5,100 – as it was the case in some places on May 7 – Shs154,428 would be required per trip to cater for the additional fuel costs.
The country’s road agency, Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA), diverted heavy-duty traffic after the closure of the defective Karuma Bridge to pave the way for its reconstruction.
Within the three-month closure of the bridge, a Lira-bound buses plying the eastern route would have to pay Shs13, 898,525 for extra fuel of 2,725.2 litres for round trips.
Just like Lira, the diversion of traffic between Gulu and Kampala through Masindi-Paraa-Pakwach route would increase the distance by 85 kilometres compared to the 335-kilometre drive between Uganda’s capital, Kampala and the biggest city in northern Uganda, Gulu.
With drivers estimating that a bus, the vehicle of choice for passengers on the route, covering six kilometres on a litre, it means the 85 kilometres would require 211 extra litres, or a spend of Shs55,000 more to fill the tank for the journey.
Mr Ali Masoud, the chairman of Uganda Bus Drivers Association (UBDA), told Monitor on May 7 that his Comfort Travelers Bus uses fuel worth Shs1.2 million to drive to and from Kampala through Karuma Bridge.
But to drive through Soroti-Kumi-Pallisa-Trinyi onwards to Nakalama- Iganga to Kampala, his bus requires additional fuel worth Shs600,000.
If indeed true that the alternative route has introduced an additional cost of Shs600,000, Comfort Travellers would require an additional Shs54 million to operate on the government’s proposed route for three months – to be specific – 90 days.
“For us to survive in the business, it requires that each passenger enjoying traveling with us should pay Shs40,000 as a transport fare for a single journey. However, the challenge is that people are saying the alternative route has increased journey times which is tiresome,” Mr Masoud said.
He said many passengers from Lango Sub-region who prefer to use the Lira-Karuma-Kampala Road have refused to access Kampala using the longer route.
According to Masoud, a passenger setting off from Lira aboard a bus on the newly introduced route takes about 10 hours to reach Kampala compared to five hours that same person can take on Lira-Kampala via Karuma.
“It’s now hard to get enough passengers to occupy all the bus seats,” Mr Masoud said.
The bridge on River Nile at Karuma is a central national asset, inter-connecting traffic and business outside and or within other parts of Uganda to the north and onwards to larger markets in South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Mr Masoud further said operators from Lira heading to Kampala have now preferred to drive up to the checkpoint at the about two kilometres away from the bridge in an attempt to avoid the additional costs.
When they reach that point at the T-Junction, passengers and luggage are shifted to small vehicles and transported to the other side of the bridge onto Karuma Town. Here they are pushed to another company’s bus for the continuation of their journey.
