EAC officially turned over the site to GOPA Infra Gmbh of Germany and ITEC Limited of Kenya. Soon after, the feasibility studies for the 256 km transnational Kisumu-Kisian-Busia/Kakira-Malaba-Busitema-Busia expressway will begin.
The proposed expressway, which will connect Kisumu, Kenya, to Kakira, a town in the Jinja district, will be upgraded over a 104-kilometer span from a two-lane single carriageway to a two-lane dual carriageway after being rehabilitated to bitumen standards.
The economic feasibility of upgrading the current transnational road portions from single carriageway to expressway standards would be ascertained through the $1.4 million feasibility study project supported by the African Development Bank (AfDB).
To ascertain if it would be economically feasible to build the corridors that connect the two countries to the port of Mombasa, the studies will be conducted as part of a single integrated project, but in two separate packages.
The highway is a component of the Northern Corridor’s upgrades, which give landlocked East African countries quicker access to Mombasa Port.
Additionally, it is a component of the Mombasa-Kigali highway, which was given priority during the EAC Heads of State Retreat on Infrastructure Development in Kampala, Uganda, in February 2018.
It is anticipated that the renovation of the EAC Northern Corridor will boost the region’s road network, accelerating regional integration and promoting cross-border trade.
The EAC Deputy Secretary General in charge of the Infrastructure, Productive, Social, and Political Sectors, Hon. Aguer Ariik Malueth, said that the feasibility study’s expected total time is 18 months during the site handover ceremony in Kisumu. A total of USD 1,499,587.00 is anticipated to be spent.
The Kisumu-Kisian-Busia/Kakira-Malaba-Busitema-Busia highway is scheduled to be upgraded, according to Hon. Ariik, which will enhance transportation services to five land-linked EAC Partner States: Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
In order to achieve a consistently high level of service throughout the entire corridor, he stated, “We anticipate that the Partner States are also in the process of upgrading the other sections of the Northern Corridor from Mombasa through Nairobi up to Malaba and from Kampala westward towards Katuna and Mpondwe.”
The EAC Road Network Project, which consists of 10 cross-border corridors totaling 15,000 kilometers, was revealed by Hon. Ariik. He also stated that the EAC Secretariat’s primary goal is to support these corridors’ development in order to boost the economic well-being of all EAC inhabitants.
The DSG further stated that the upgrading of the Lwakhakha Border between Kenya and Uganda to an OSBP and the enhancement of the Busia and Malaba One-Stop Border Posts (OSBPs) are included in the scope of the feasibility study assignment.
