By Felix Oketcho
Kiira Motors Corporation (KMC), has unveiled the 2024 Bus Product Line at the 2nd Uganda – Tanzania Business Forum held at Johari Rotana Hotel in Dar es Salaam running from 23rd to 24th May 2024. KMC’s 2024 bus product line includes the Kayoola City Buses and the Kayoola Coaches that have been specifically designed for Africa, by Africa.
The Kayoola City Bus is available as fully electric (Kayoola EVS) or Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) (Kayoola CNG), low-floor specifically designed for City Mass Transportation. The Kayoola City bus models range from 6-metre (15 passengers) to 18-metre (120 passengers). At full charge, the Kayoola EVS can cover a range of up to 500 kilometres, whereas the Kayoola CNG can cover over 400 kilometres on a single full tank making it capable of seamlessly handling the daily Urban Mass Transportation duty cycle. Its favourable seating capacity offers great returns for the bus operator while enabling the reduction in congestion on the city roads.
The Kayoola Coach is available as fully electric (Kayoola e-Coach) with a range of up to 500 kilometres on a single charge or Diesel Powered (Kayoola Diesel Coach) or CNG powered (Kayoola CNG Coach). The variants range from 10-metre (43 passengers) to 13-metre (65 passengers).
The Uganda-Tanzania Business Forum provides a platform to enhance the economic and commercial ties between Uganda and Tanzania. This year, the forum’s theme is “Enhancing Our Win-Win Partnership”, and the team from Uganda is looking to leverage the high-level deliberations to build the African market for Kiira Motors. Kiira Motors’ participation in the forum has been made possible by Uganda’s High Commission to Tanzania under the leadership of H.E. Col. (Rtd) Fred Mwesigye.
The delegation from Uganda was led by Hon. Dr. Monica Musenero Masanza – Uganda’s Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation – Office of the President, and the leadership of Kiira Motors Corporation.
During the forum, the team engaged with diplomats, businesspeople, and key players from both the public and private sectors, aiming to showcase Kiira Motor’s extensive portfolio of products and services. Speaking to the press on the forum’s side-lines, Hon. Dr. Musenero remarked, “It is an honour for Uganda to introduce to Tanzania the wide spectrum of Kiira Motors’ city buses and coaches – a manifestation of Uganda’s technological advancement to serve the African market with home grown sustainable mobility solutions. Our Kayoola buses are competitive and built with understanding of Africa’s terrain and the needs of the African commuters.”
Tanzania represents a significant market for Kiira Motors due to substantial improvements in the country’s public transport system – particularly through the Dar es Salaam Bus Rapid Transit (DART) project. This large-scale infrastructure initiative, developed by the Tanzania National Roads Agency, aims to enhance public transportation with a network of dedicated bus lanes, stations, and terminals.
According to the International Road Assessment Programme (iRAP), the DART system, which began its first phase in 2016 with twenty-nine buses and five terminals, quickly made a significant impact: It reduced a 20 kilometre journey from three hours to 45 minutes, thereby decreasing reliance on private cars, cutting emissions, and offering a safe and affordable travel solution for the city’s over eight million residents.
Kiira Motors aims to leverage this development to expand its market reach within the East Africa region and beyond.
KMC’s Chief Executive Officer, Paul Isaac Musasizi stated that the organisation’s value proposition centres on replacing imported mobility solutions with an efficient, robust and sustainable African-built solution that has an immediate positive impact on the operator’s bottom line. “This initiative aims to lead the e-mobility revolution and the decarbonisation of transportation in East Africa. By localising the development and deployment of electric vehicles, Kiira Motors Corporation seeks to enhance environmental sustainability and stimulate economic growth within the region,” he said.
Kiira Motors Corporation (KMC) is a mobility enterprise established to champion value addition in the nascent mobility industry in Uganda through Technology Transfer, Contract Manufacturing, and Supply Chain Localization. Operationalised in 2018, the company is fully owned by the government with a shareholding of 96% and 4% by Makerere University. The core business of KMC is to develop, make, and sell sustainable mobility solutions (Motor Vehicles, Parts, Systems & Services) in Africa.
The value proposition of KMC is premised on creating a scalable and sustainable mobility industrial value chain in Uganda with the capacity to produce over 500,000 vehicles by 2030 while creating sustainable enterprise value at the Corporation
