And this is the NRM/A that brought "fundamental" change, peace and "clear line " of leadership?
Gook
"You can't separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom."- Malcom X
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From: "dbbwanika db" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: ugnet_: URC west closed passenger, goods made no profits!!!
Date: Sun, 22 Jun 2003 11:37:04 +0200
URC loses sh2bn in stolen material
UNPROFITABLE? A train leaves Kampala and (below) a neglected line
By Geoffrey Kamali and Felix Osike
RAIL track materials worth over sh2bn have been stolen from the Uganda Railways Corporation’s (URC) closed routes to the east, west and northern regions.
But billions more stand to be lost as the lines lie in waste, covered by thickets, anthills and in some cases, the soil under the lines washed away by soil erosion.
Neglected routes include the 230-mile (333km) Kampala-Kasese line, the 80-mile (120km) Jinja-Kamuli-Busembatia (Busoga loopline) line and the 312-mile (500km) Tororo-Lira-Pakwach line. URC now mainly relies on the Kampala-Port Bell pier line to transport cargo to and from the coastal towns of Mombasa and Dar es Salaam.
State Minister for Communication Michael Werikhe said the ministry was aware of the thefts.
“We are aware and we are trying to police the lines in collaboration with the local leaders, “ he told Sunday Vision.
URC closed down the 50-year-old lines at various times in the 1990s and withdrew its staff due to the insurgency that engulfed those regions. URC officials say they also closed the western route for failure by the passenger and goods train services to make profit.
URC officials say $150m is required to relay the Kasese line alone. A number of investments including Hima Cement factory and Kasese Cobalt Company are located in Kasese where railway transport would be significant.
Some railway stations on the western line are now deserted and only occupied by monkeys and baboons. A group of steel scrap collectors, mainly agents of steel recycling plants, have since taken adva ntage of the situation and pilfered over 5,000 steel sleepers, the main components of the railway lines.
The URC deputy chief civil engineer, Henry Mwanaki, told Sunday Vision last week that they estimated over 3,000 heavy duty sleepers over a 15km-rail distance had been stolen by June last year.
“We get such reports (rail material theft) almost on a daily basis. The thefts have increased persistently since that time (last year),” he said.
Stolen materials include heavy-duty steel rails, sleepers (metallic bars fitted between rails), clips, bolts, fittings, fish plates, fasteners and nuts.
Mwanaki said the loss then was valued to cost the company over sh575m to replace the sleepers alone. Over 30 cases were recorded up to July but there are no updated figures.
The sleepers and rails are recycled into steel bars while the rest are sold on the open market as slabs for covering pit latrines.
Other uses are for making karayis
(metallic basins) and ox ploughs by blacksmiths in Katwe, Kampala. Some of the scrap is also exported to Kenya, where the price is better. Prices range from sh50 to sh500 a kilogramme.
An average sleeper weighs 40kgs and is about 1.5 metres in length. It costs over sh150, 000 while the rails are 40ft (12 metres), weigh over 80kgs each and cost over sh550, 000 a unit.
Investigations by Sunday Vision show that rails were pilfered right from Nalukolongo and Kyengera in Kampala, where the western line begins its journey to Kasese.
Other areas include Musozi and
Kawologonjo railway stations in Mityana, Kamwenge, the Jinja- Kakira-Kaliro-Busembatya loop line, where thieves have uprooted entire sections of the track, leaving hundreds of metres of gaping space.
Specific areas where thefts have been reported to Police are, Butamira village, Jinja, where 522 sleepers and 148 rails were stolen, Luzinga, Buwongo, Kamuli district (close to 1,000 sleepers are missing),
Others are Mbale-Manafwa stations, Mbale (numb er unspecified), Pakwach East line, West Nile (over 500 pieces loaded onto three lorries), Bar Landhie, Aloi-Lira (unspecified), Ayara parish, Lira (129 sleepers), Kiwolongojo, Mityana (unspecified), Aryomorem parish, Lira (250 sleepers) and Onywako Parish, also Lira (unspecified).
The Police in Kampala and Jinja early this year impounded four trucks loaded with rail materials, two of them belonging to the Jinja-based Steel Rolling Mills Company.
The senior CID officer at the URC Police station, Wilson Egwang, said about 10 people were arrested over the thefts and later prosecuted in court.
“We impounded the trucks and in
fact, these people people were taken to court but the case has stayed because one of them, a woman called Nakimera, ran mad in prison,” he said.
Scrap collection has become a lucrative business over the years after a number of steel recycling companies opened up in various areas of the country to tap the growing construction industry.
There are seven steel fabricating companies in Jinja (Steel Rolling Mills Ltd. and Steel Corporation of East Africa Ltd.), Lugazi, Industrial Area, Kampala, BM Technical Services in Mbarara and another recently set up in Kasese town.
Last year, URC wrote to the Steel Rolling Mills, warning it against engaging in the sleepers’ racket. But Police reports seen by Sunday Vision also show that railways staff left to manage the lines were engaged in the sleepers’ scrap collection for sale.
At a station called Dura River in Kibaale Forest, Kamwenge District, a URC estate assistant was implicated in the racket in collusion with one of the district internal security agents.
“He would go there accompanied by another man in overalls purported to be an engineer, reportedly to inspect the line,” a URC security officer said.
“The ‘engineer’ would then unbolt the rails, collect the sleepers and rails together and pile them in one place. When I asked, the I was told to mind my own business,” the officer ad ded.
Other items, such as office equipment, including ticketing machines, two diesel pumps, windows and door fittings were vandalised at Dura station.
At Kabuga Railway station in Kamwenge, URC facilities, among them two water pumps, and underground water pipes were dug out while the overhead tanks were vandalised.
At the Musozi-River Wamala railway line, a whole track was dismantled and the components and fittings stolen. The rest of the track lies in bushes.
At the Busembatia-Kaliro loop, some of the sleepers were freshly dug out while in one area near the town, a maize garden covers the line. Residents said the thieves appear at night and start ferrying their loot away using bicycles. If you come at 8:00pm, you can easily catch them,” said an elderly man near Busembatia town.
The Kampala-Gulu line has also not been spared. The line closed due to insecurity and it was not economically viable.
__________
bwanika
url: www.idr.co.ug
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