the passengers who use the ferry services have appealed to the government to consider revising the vessels’ operation schedules and introducing night trips beyond 06 p.m. to ease the movement of goods and services between the Kalangala islands and the mainland.
Passangers leaving one of the Ferries that plying between Masaka mainland and Kalangala Islands, There are apparently demands for services to be extented beyond 07 PM
Passengers using the Bukakata-Luku ferries that connect
between Masaka and Kalangala districts are seeking adjustments in the operation
schedules to introduce night trips.
Government through a Public Private Partnership with
Kalangala Infrastructure Services-KIS Limited, has since 2012, been operating two
ferries MV Pearl and MV Ssese, that make seven and five round trips on working days
and weekends respectively, between 07 am to 06 pm.
However, the passengers who use the ferry services have appealed to the government to consider revising the vessels’ operation schedules and introducing night trips beyond 6 p.m. to ease the movement of goods and services between the Kalangala islands and the mainland.
Patrick Ssembuusi, a businessman who operates a retail shop
in Kalangala town council indicates that the seven trips are no longer enough given
the increase in traffic floor and volume of goods and passengers crossing from either side.
He says the area has since registered growth in the business and leisure industries, which now require to be supported with more reliable transport services.
According to him, many business operators on the island
are scrambling for space on the ferries, and on several occasions, some fail people to cross with their merchandise after they miss the current schedules.
Moses Kamulegeya, a truck driver on the Masaka-Kalangala route
says that they are also currently operating under pressure as rush to conform to
the schedules of the water vessels.
He indicates that currently some of the passengers who wish
to travel beyond 06 pm are crossing the lake by boats that expose
them to the risk of drowning.
Kamulegeya says that have raised concerns with their area
Members of Parliament and the district leadership appealing to them to forward the
matter to higher authorities in government for consideration.
Fred Badda, the Kalangala Resident District Commissioner
who previously served the same area at MP for Bujumba County has also supported
the appeal, describing it a reasonable for the further development of the district.
The demand according to him has come at an opportune time
when government and ferry service providers are going to review their partnership,
saying that there is hope that the preferred adjustments may be considered.
Speaking during a public baraza at Bugoma parish in Mugoye
sub-county, Badda noted that they have proposed to the government to extend the ferries' trips to at least 10 PM, to ensure that no passengers are left stranded at
docking piers.
//Cue
in: “abamu ku mwe bwemutuula…..
Cue
out; ….tukitekeemu essaala.”//
Joseph Mulindwa, the Acting Manager for Kalangala Infrastructure
Services Limited, a private firm that operates the ferry services says that are
willing to adjust as long as the government approves the adjustments in the operations
schedules.
“It is true negotiations are ongoing for the government to
renew the subsidy for the ferry travellers for another 15 or so years. As a
company, we are ready for the night trips because they further open Kalangala’s
economy. After all, there is free movement of labour and goods on the mainland,” she
says.
According to the initial agreement signed in 2012, the government
contracted KIS Limited to operate the two ferries for 4
billion Shillings every quarter.
