Floodwaters threaten ferry services at Laropi landing site

Moyo, Uganda |  THE INDEPENDENT | Ferry services between Laropi in Moyo and Umi in Adjumani districts are threatened by increasing water levels, which have since submerged the docking piers and Uganda National Roads Authority-UNRA offices adjacent to the landing site. 

Several passengers travelling from Adjumani to Moyo were reportedly stranded on Wednesday evening for over 30 minutes as the ferry struggled to safely dock on the submerged site. However, according to officials from the Uganda National Roads Authority-UNRA in Moyo, the workers are compacting gravel at the Laropi docking pier to control the water and create a safer landing for the ferry.

Nelson Suda, the UNRA Moyo Station Engineer says that while they ferry more materials to the landing sites at Laropi and Umi to manage the floods, ferry services will also continue. 

Meanwhile, the LCIII Chairman of Laropi Sub County David Luga Tiondi asked the government to pay urgent attention to the threat saying that this could increase economic anxiety among the people in the area, if not addressed. According to Luga the floods have also submerged sanitary facilities in the Sub County, creating fears of an outbreak of water-borne diseases and more disasters for the people.  

Three months ago, ferry services in Obongi and Sinyanya were closed after floods submerged the landing sites. To date, travellers along Obongi route have shifted to Laropi ferry, leaving Pakwach bridge as the only safer route to cross to West Nile and Acholi regions.

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