Bangkok--Oct 14--eTurboNews
UGANDA RAILWAY TO EXTEND TO JUBA
State Minister for Transport, Hon. Awuzu Andruale, made this announcement while addressing the Uganda business community and his Kenyan counterpart Hon. Andrew Ligale during the launch of the Kenya Ports Authority development master plan. He also announced that the road from Arua via Yei to Juba in South Sudan was earmarked for upgrading and tarmacking in due course to stimulate the traffic of people and goods between Uganda and the autonomous region of the South Sudan. Meanwhile, a decision on the award of the joint Kenya / Uganda railways concession is now imminent and news of the successful bidder can be expected in next week's column.
AHHSA ASSEMBLY ON IN MALAWI
The association of tourism, hotel and hospitality training institutes in sub Saharan Africa is holding its annual assembly in Lilongwe, Malawi to discuss its development agenda for the coming years in view of the sharp increase of arriving visitors to the continent. Uganda's HTTI at the Crested Crane Hotel in Jinja is represented by the Principal, Mr. Barnabas Kabalisa, who will be formally inviting members to attend the 2006 assembly in Uganda, with the national HTTI being the host for the annual gathering next year. Uganda's premier hospitality and tourism school is then also expected to be formally certified by the association, enabling them to have certificates, diplomas and degrees recognized across the continent and beyond.
AFRICANA HOTEL OFFERS SPECIAL 'RAMADAN BREAKFAST'
Guest of Hotel Africana in Kampala professing to the Islamic faith can now have an early breakfast during the month of Ramadan. A full buffet is laid out in the early hours, before the faithful go for prayers and begin the day's fast. A mosque adjoining to the lobby of the hotel makes the observance of the daily prayers also easier - talk of a complete package for Muslim visitors.
EAST AFRICAN SAFARI RALLY FOR DECEMBER
The 'classic' version of this eye-catching event will be held between December 01 - 10 this year and again bring the big names of yesteryear in rallying to their former stomping grounds. Bjorn Waldegaard will meet former rival Juha Kankkunen with many others joining them over the 4.200 KM long course across the most scenic parts of East Africa.
MOMBASA TO GET NEW FERRIES
Bids for the construction of two new ferries for the Likoni harbour crossing from Mombasa to the mainland (South) have now been received from 7 interested companies. The new ferries are estimated to cost about 700 million KShs. The two ferries are to replace the present ageing vessels, which have to cope with over a million vehicles and nearly 60 million passengers per year. The crossing is presently the only way to the famous South coast of Mombasa with its endless white beaches but also to the main coastal border crossing to Tanzania at Lunga-Lunga border post. All efforts to either construct a bridge across the harbor entrance or a road bypass from the airport to the South coast have so far come to nothing.
KENYA BUREAUCRATS RUN RIOT - AGAIN
Reports in this column a while ago brought the impact of ill-considered and ill-conceived measures by Kenya Revenue Authority to light, which affected greatly the fuel supply situation, not only in Kenya but more so in Uganda and countries beyond. News are now received, that air operators at the busy Wilson Airport are also being hammered with new requirements vis-?-vis 'cargo' shipments. It appears, that even luggage carried by passengers, within the limits or in excess of baggage allowances on 'light aircraft' have been subjected to this unwarranted treatment by authorities, who in the words of a pilot regularly flying in and out of Wilson 'do not know hoot from toot'. A meeting of the Kenya Association of Air Operators in mid September also tried to discuss this issue with the management of Wilson Airport. Issues highlighted were checking and screening of baggage 'on arrival' from purely domestic flights, the involvement of customs department in domestic flight arrivals and a 'handling charge' of Kshs 4/- per KG of inspected 'cargo', which is over -/50 US Cents in additional payments per KG. Operators also took issue with new regulations on aerial photography, where the Director of Surveys now requires 7 days application time, which led to the cancellation of a BBC feature on the migration of the wildebeest in the Masai Mara. Operators also took issue with new security regulations over searches of passengers on private flights, which they termed 'excessive, harassment and totally unnecessary'. One wonders if these bureaucrats have any relationship with reality on the ground and the impact of their action on the vital tourism sector of this East African nation.
MORE TROUBLE FOR KENYA CONSERVATION
In a hotly disputed move, Kenya's tourism minister last week terminated the status of Amboseli National Park and returned it to National Reserve status, as it was before 1974, under the ownership of Kajiado county council. Leading conservationists, like Prof. Dr. Imre Loeffler, chairman of East African Wildlife Society, called the directive by the minister "reckless, clandestine, ill-conceived and illegal," while a former executive director of KWS, Dr. David Western called for due process to be observed and such moves to conform with legal standards - implying that the Minister's action was considered outside legal bounds, mainly of the total absence of the legally required consultations with stakeholders. Amboseli has been one of the "cash cow" parks for KWS and is presently also subject to a much heralded re-branding campaign KWS is undertaking for its parks. There is suspicion in conservation circles, that sections of government who are presently campaigning for a new constitution (other sections of government are actually campaigning against it) are using the measure to canvass political favors and a vote for their camp, nothing new for that matter for long term observers of the political scene in Kenya.
This however needs to be seen in the context of other issues impacting on the re-vitalized tourism sector, such as regulatory issues in aviation (see previous article) and the ongoing campaign violence, which has already led to sharply dialed up travel advisories, putting clouds over an industry which has only just emerged from years of doldrums and downturns following bad political decisions and political violence in past years. The EU had over the past years spent millions of Euros in support for Kenya tourism marketing and observers are now keenly monitoring the present developments to establish, if all those efforts are now going down the drain.
Latest reports now also indicate that the conservation fraternity has taken the matter to the High Court in Nairobi to stop what they term 'illegal' move by government. The court issued an order to have government respond to the suit within 8 days - stand by for more updates in coming weeks as this saga unfolds across the border.
MOMBASA PORT INTRODUCES NEW MASTERPLAN
A high powered delegation led by the KPA chairman Gen. (rtd) Joe Kibwana and the KPA CEO Mr. Brown Ondego recently met the Uganda business community at the Sheraton Kampala Hotel to introduce the new master plan layout for the development of East Africa's most important sea harbor. The tourism sector in particular was keen to learn about the new passenger terminal facilities, KPA proposes to put up, in order to attract more cruise line calls. Cruise tourism is high value business and the establishment of an Indian Ocean / East and South Africa cruise circuit is now high on the agenda of the tourism sectors in East Africa.
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