Uganda - Sudan

Tonymercury · Posted: Fri Aug 22, 2008 5:55 am

Uganda, Sudan discuss railway link
Tuesday, 19th August, 2008 E-mail article
By Steven Candia

Uganda and Sudan will today hold a bilateral meeting to discuss the proposed construction of a railway line between the two states.

A statement from the Uganda National Roads Authority issued yesterday said the meeting is to review the Uganda-Sudan joint ministerial commission provisions relating to transport and communication.

The meeting will look into ongoing or planned road and railway projects linking both countries.

The railway is expected to go through Pakwach, Gulu, Juba to Wa.

Uganda’s head of the consulate in Juba, Habib Migadde, said: “We are making arrangements in that direction but the line has not taken off. It is overdue,”

The Sudanese delegation will be led by the minister for transport, roads and bridges, Brig. Gen. Phillip Fhon Leek Deng. It will include a minister from the Government of South Sudan, Eng. Amza Mohammed, the director general of the Sudan Railways Corporation and Eng. Hamid Mahmud, the director general of Sudan National Highway Authority.

A few years ago, Sudan resumed direct flights from Juba to Entebbe Airport.

Tony Bailey
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awsgc24 · Posted: Fri Aug 22, 2008 12:23 pm

From North to South

Egypt, Middle East, Europe, North Africa: 1435mm

Sudan: 1067mm

Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania: 1000mm

TAZARA, Zambia, Southern Africa: 1067mm again.

Tanzania-Rwanda: 1435mm proposed.

Ethopia (isolated): 1000mm

Eritrea (isolated): 950mm.

One size fits all?
_ Railway gauge _ _ _ _ : Mostly YES; Almost always 1435mm _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ .
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ : except sugar cane trams, rocket launch pads, telescopes.
_ _ Shoe/hat/ ring sizes: NO_ _ _ _ _ .
May use SUW 2000 VGA to bridge break-of-gauge.

awsgc24 · Posted: Fri Aug 22, 2008 2:13 pm

BTW, a Sudan-Uganda link would go down nicely with the proposed Egypt-Sudan link. See other thread.

BTW, Wa is often spelled Waw.

Tonymercury · Posted: Sat Aug 30, 2008 6:49 am

Gulu-Juba railway to be constructed
Thursday, 28th August, 2008
By Mikaili Sseppuya

UGANDA and Sudan have signed a memorandum for development of a 920 km railway line from Gulu to Wau in Sudan.

The development comes after the end of a 21-year civil war in southern Sudan.

Due to end of the civil war, trade between southern Sudan and Uganda is booming. However, poor infrastructure is one of the hindrances to trade development between Sudan and her neighbours, including Uganda.

According to a statement from the Uganda National Roads Authority signed by Dan Alinange, the spokesman, the two governments agreed to develop the Gulu-Nimule-Juba-Wau railway line instead of the 1,028 km Pakwach-Arua-Oraba-Yei-Juba line, which was proposed earlier.

They signed the memorandum on August 26. Transport minister Eng. John Nasasira signed the memorandum with Brig. General Philip Thon Leek Deng, the Sudan transport, roads and bridges minister.

A Joint Ministerial Transport Commission was set up to implement the memorandum and develop transport infrastructure and services between the two countries.

Nasasira noted that there was global goodwill to develop northern Uganda and southern Sudan.

“This goodwill could be used to solicit for increased funding from development partners to improve the transport network,” he said.

Nasasira said the railway from Mombasa stops at Pakwach/Gulu, with the Pakwach/Gulu-Juba-Wau railway line as the missing link.

He said there was also a possibility of connecting the Gulu-Wai line to Cairo and developing the proposed Dakar-Port Sudan railway line.

“This will provide a transport link between Cairo and Mombasa.”
The two governments also agreed to speed up upgrading to bitumen four key roads connecting the two countries.

The roads are Arua-Koboko-Oraba-Kaya-Yei-Juba, Gulu-Atiak-Nimule-Juba-Malakal, Moroto-Kotido-Kaabong-New Site-Kapoeta and Kitgum-Ikotos-Torit.

Tony Bailey
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RailNewsInternational
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Tonymercury · Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2008 5:37 am

Written by EABW REPORTER
Saturday, 06 September 2008

KAMPALA, UGANDA - A railway line linking Uganda to Sudan is in the offing.

This follows the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the joint development of the proposed Gulu-Nimule-Juba-Wau railway line on August 26 at Uganda's foreign affairs ministry in the capital, Kampala.

The existing railway from Mombasa, Kenya stops at Pakwach/Gulu in northern Uganda. The Pakwach/Gulu-Juba-Wau railway line is the missing link, which also has potential to connect to the Cairo-Wau and the proposed Dakar-Port Sudan railway lines. This would provide a transport link between Cairo and Mombasa.

Once the project is complete, trade barriers between Uganda and Sudan will be removed to help people do business.

The MoU signed by Uganda’s roads and transport minister, Eng. John Nasasira and his Sudan counterpart, Brig. Gen. Philip Thon Leek Deng, according to a statement issued by the Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) also covered other modes of transport.

Measuring 920 kilometres, the Gulu-Nimule-Juba-Wau route is considerably shorter by 108 kilometres than the earlier proposed route of Pakwach-Arua-Oraba-Yei-Juba that measures 1,028 kilometres.

“The Uganda-Sudan meeting took place in the context of Decision Number five (5) of the 5th Session of the Sudan-Uganda Joint Ministerial Commission held in March 2007 in Khartoum which noted the need to have joint project proposal on the roads and railway lines connecting the two countries for purpose of soliciting funding,” Mr. Dan Alinange, UNRA’s corporate communications manager said in the press statement.

The meeting also established a Joint Ministerial Transport Commission (JMTC) to implement the decisions of the MoU and to generally jointly provide the development of transport infrastructure and services between the two countries.

Alinange said officials discussed the status of ongoing or planned projects on key roads connecting Sudan and Uganda. They include Arua-Koboko-Oraba-Kaya-Yei-Juba, Gulu-Atiak-Nimule-Juba-Malakal, Moroto-Kotido-Kaabong-New Site-Kapoeta and Kitgum-Ikotos-Torit roads.

It was agreed to speed up the process of upgrading these roads to bitumen.

Uganda has secured a credit from the World Bank to undertake a feasibility study and design of the Vurra-Arua-Koboko-Oraba road which is expected to commence in September 2008. Upgrading to bitumen is expected to start in March 2010.

During this financial year the road will undergo routine maintenance, full regravelling and reconstruction of 14 bridges starting December this year.

Tenders for construction were due at the end of August 2008.

The procurement for the feasibility study and detailed design for Gulu-Atiak-Nimule road (104 kilometres) is currently at technical evaluation stage and will be completed by September 2009.

Upgrading to bitumen is expected to commence in March 2010. The cost for construction of this road is currently estimated at US$75.4m.

Moroto-Kotido-Kaabong-New Site-Kapoeta road (265 kilometres) is scheduled to receive full regravelling commencing January 2009. Subject to availability of funds, upgrading works will commence after June 2010. The road is estimated to cost $174m.

The Kitgum-Musingo (border) 80 kilometres link lies in Uganda while the Musingo-Tsertenya-Ikotos-Torit 280 kilometres is in Sudan. The feasibility study and design of the entire link from Rwenkunye-Apac-Lira-Kitgum-Tsertenya is scheduled to commence in February 2009 and be completed in December 2009.

Upgrading works estimated at $150m are scheduled to commence in June 2010.

The Uganda-Southern Sudan railway project is an immediate follow-up to another proposed line linking Uganda with Dar-e-Salaam Port in Tanzania.

Tony Bailey
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awsgc24 · Posted: Sun Oct 19, 2008 12:05 pm