Plans are in advanced stages to build and set up a logistics hub in Gulu town to service trade and business in northern Uganda, South Sudan and the eastern parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Trademark East Africa (TMEA) a donor-funded facility to promote trade among East African states said recently that they had secured US$8.6 million from the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) and the European Union, for the purpose.
Moses Sabiiti, Trademark East Africa Uganda country director said feasibility and design studies are completed and construction works will start in the second half of this year. He said the facility will have capacity to hold a half million containers at any one time.
Up to this point, Gulu has played an informal role as a business hub for northern Uganda, south Sudan and eastern DR Congo, as traders from these areas stock and buy goods from Gulu. Once the hub is in place, Gulu will play an even bigger role in trade. Beyond business, it will also chaperon logistics support to humanitarian interventions in South Sudan and beyond. The work of World Food Programme, UN High Commission for refugees in the West Nile region will be coordinated from the Gulu hub.
The hub will be located near the Uganda Railways Corporation (URC) station. In addition to job creation, the logistics centre will support big processors like Mukwano Industries, grain and tobacco farmers in the northern region to hold and move stock of raw material or processed goods. These processing companies will be able to store their merchandise in the logistic centre pending processing, exportation or distr
