The African Development Bank (AfDB) has allocated a total of $252.83 million (approximately sh958 billion) for roads in Uganda.
The financing is likely to be used to build the roads Laropi-Moyo-Afoji and Katuna-Muko-Kamuganguzi.
According to the bank, the financial assistance comprises of two loans: $179.68 million from AfDB and $73.15 million from the African Development Fund, the Bank Group’s concessional lending window.
“The Laropi-Moyo-Afoji/Katuna-Muko-Kamuganguzi road project in Uganda’s Kabale, Rubanda, and Moyo districts is intended to improve rural transport connectivity and facilitate regional integration.” “It will boost incomes, deepen regional integration, and facilitate trade while opening up an alternative transport corridor linking Uganda and South Sudan,” said Augustine Ngafuan, AfDB country manager for Uganda.
“Building this infrastructure will enable economic operators along this route to reduce costs and lead times while improving the efficiency of transport logistics,” he went on to say.
In addition to the two main highways, the project is intended to fund construction on five kilometers of local town roads and non-motorized traffic facilities (walkways and cycle tracks) in Moyo and Laropi in northern Uganda to increase mobility.
It would also improve the business climate for traders by providing street illumination, as well as a regional bus terminal in Moyo.
The project also includes the development of market stalls with cold storage facilities in Kashasha/Katuna, Moyo, and Laropi to help women merchants who now operate on the roadside enhance their revenues from perishable items like fish and vegetables.
“There will also be flood protection works in Laropi to strengthen resilience to the effects of climate change and reduce disruptions to commercial activities,” the bank said in a statement.
It further said that a one-stop border station will be built in Afoji/Jale on the Uganda-South Sudan border to increase commerce and transport operations, as well as to improve customs harmonization and border-crossing coordination.
As of November 2023, the AfDB Group’s active portfolio in Uganda included 23 projects totaling $1,957 million.
