The State Minister for Transport, Hon. Fred Byamukama inspected the facilities at the Ntoroko Border Port on the 28th of April, 2022. While there, he noted that DRC being a key trading partner for Uganda, with exports including both manufactured goods and agricultural goods necessitated the upgrading of the landing site to a Port.
The Ntoroko lake port, located at Kanara Landing site on has been upgraded by trade Mark East Africa at a Project cost of $3.2m. Before rehabilitation, the lake port was characterized by poor lake port infrastructure and port inefficiencies which resulted in a poor environment for handling and processing of goods and people.
The project contract was awarded to Ambitious Construction Company Limited for implementation between 2018 and 2022. The Port was completed in April 2022 and is due for handover to Uganda Revenue Authority for operationalization. Ntoroko port deals with transit goods from Busia, Malaba, Kasese and Kampala towards Bunia in DR Congo.
While on the Monitoring visit, the local leaders including ntoroko District Woman MP Anne Mary Kobugabe, the LC V Chairperson William kisoro made appeals to the Minister to look into the upgrading of the 51km stretch from karugutu to Kanara from murram to bitumen standard. They cited the great potential of the area from tourism (The Semliki National Park) to agriculture and leading to the Border Port.
Once the port becomes operational, it is expected that there will be a reduction in cargo clearance costs by 15%.
In fact, trade with DRC surpasses trade with all other East African countries. It is this great potential that necessitated the improvement of the border infrastructure at the Ntoroko border port to facilitate movement of goods and people.