The hub is supposed to be a one-stop centre for goods being transported from Kenya through Uganda to South Sudan and DR Congo, thereby lowering transport costs and trade barriers faced by traders who export goods to these countries.
The hub aims to serve northern Uganda, South Sudan and DRC by ensuring that cargo imported through Mombasa moves straight to Gulu without passing through Jinja or Kampala where traders have to pay extra costs of warehousing.
However, the activities of the hub are to be facilitated by the meter gauge railway line from Tororo to Gulu and Pakwach through which the goods are to be transported but its rehabilitation which was supposed to be finished concurrently with the hub has stalled.
When The Observer visited the premises, there were only a few security guards, the administration block and warehouses all empty and covered in dust. The contactor, Ambitious Construction Ltd, has already demobilized from the site and some open spaces are covered with overgrown grass.
Lenon Ssengendo, the spokesperson of URC, confirmed that the rehabilitation works on the railway line had started but later on stalled due to challenges with the contractor, Sogea Satom Constructions who halted the works.
“Works had commenced on the Tororo-Gulu line and they were moving on well but there were some challenges with the contractor and they disengaged from the site. Right now there are no ongoing works but in a few weeks they will resume from where they had stopped,” Ssengendo said.
He, however, could not tell the timelines these rehabilitation works are expected to be completed but in an interview with the press recently, the state minister for Transport Fred Byamukama said feasibility studies are being conducted on the Gulu-Pakwach line at the tail end.
“The feasibility studies are ongoing and we anticipate that by the end of 2023, the Gulu-Pakwach line which covers 129km will be fully completed and functional and it is going to cost Shs 180bn,” Byamukama said.
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