Kampala — Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) has urged businessmen in Uganda to consider using the Central Corridor through Dar es Salaam Port as an alternative to the now crowded Mombasa Port.

Speaking at the opening of a three-day campaign aimed at luring Ugandan businessmen to use the route Mr Flavian Kinunda, TPA's director of marketing, said: "We are here to negotiate with the importers and exporters to use the Central Corridor because the route's infrastructure has been improved."

The 1800 kilometre route from Dar es Salaam to Kampala via Mutukula has been upgraded to tarmac and it is increasingly registering more traffic with transit days reducing from 29 to 4 days.

Alcuthough the roads have been improved, only 5 per cent of Uganda's Seaborne traffic worth 4 million tones passes through the route. In the past, Uganda's cargo used to go through Dar es Salaam Port via Mwanza railway, however, after the collapse of the railway links, many businessmen diverted cargo to the Northern Corridor via Mombasa.

Kenya 2007 violence

It was not until 2007 post-election violence in Kenya, which cut off Kampala from Mombasa; that this route was considered as an alternative. However, with the increasing growth among the East African member states, which has seen import figures grow, the Mombasa port has become congested thus a quest for an alternative has set in among businessmen who have to wait for at least two moths to clear their goods at the port.