Cabinet approves cable cars for Kampala

By Raymond Mujuni

Cabinet has approved a 175 million dollar loan from the World Bank for cable cars in Kampala.

The loan will also be used for expanding the narrow city roads and tarmacking close to 70% of all murram roads in the city, Information and national guidance minister, Rose Namayanja, announced on Thursday.

Addressing a news conference in Kampala, the minister said the finance ministry has been tasked to forward the loan request to Parliament for approval.

Cable car transport is a steel enabled carrier that runs on rails to deliver passengers to their intended destination. It was originally a preserve for mountain transport and skiing but has recently been adopted by cities as a form of transport to reduce city congestion.

Cable cars carry up to 10,000 people per hour, a number that would require over 9000 taxis to carry. Installation of cable cars is estimated at $3million per mile.

The faint hope of cable car transport in the City is slowly turning into reality.

Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) has called upon interested engineering firms to submit bids for carrying out of a feasibility study for cable car transport in the city .

Companies are expected to submit their bids for the feasibility on May 20 and a potential bidder will have been found by the June 18.

Speaking in an earlier interview with journalists at the African Centre or Media Excellence last month, KCCA executive director, Jennifer Musisi, said the authority has focused its energies on reducing the congestion in the city and improving public transport.