Construction of the source of River Nile pier starts

Jinja, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT |  The Ministry of Tourism has commissioned rehabilitation works at the Source of River Nile in Jinja City.

Doreen Katusiime, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Tourism on Thursday handed over part of the tourism site to Excel Construction Limited who have been contracted to construct a modern pier.

The pier will constitute a glass bridge, connecting from the riverbanks to the exact point where River Nile emanates from Lake Victoria, before it flows all through to the Mediterranean Sea.

The pier will also comprise thermal restaurants, art villages, and a docking area to accommodate over 20 modern boats, and other modern artifacts, which will increase the tourism experience along the site.

Katusiime argues that most of the guests at the Source of River Nile are largely first-time visitors, who never return to the site, largely due to underdevelopment.

“Word of mouth is key in tourism promotion, but since there’s no key infrastructure geared towards increasing their adventure time, most tourists never return to the source of River Nile and neither recommend the site to the people in their respective spheres of influence,” she says.

Katusiime argues that the pier and its innovations will increase the revenue earnings at the Nile since the tourists will spend more time and money at the site.

Katusiime further says that the 15 Billion Shillings pier is part of the 20-year-long source of the Nile tourism site development plan.  She explained that the plan involves developing modern infrastructure in a 10 km stretch along the Source of River in both Jinja city and Njeru municipality, respectively.

The development plan involves the erection of adventurous hotels, roads, and other standard network infrastructure to foster tourism expeditions along the Nile.

Katusiime says that they have already contracted a consultant to assess the 10-kilometer area, detailing its viability and available project-affected persons-PAPs for compensation.

The Jinja City Mayor, Alton Kasolo notes that tourists were only spending less than 30 minutes at the Source of the River Nile and then venture out for other tourist attractions outside Jinja city, however with new innovations in place, a tremendous improvement on the increased tourists’ stay at the site is expected.

Kasolo also says that Jinja City’s Kimaka Airstrip has been incorporated into the Source of River master development with a target of airlifting largely foreign tourists and other guests from Entebbe International Airport or any other location near the sites.

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URN