Uganda has secured a $252.8mn (Shs964.4bn) loan from the African Development Bank to construct two roads to boost rural economic development and facilitate regional trade and integration.
The bank said its board on Friday approved a $73.15mn concessional loan from the African Development Fund, its concessional arm, and a $179.68mn loan from the African Development Bank. The loans will finance the construction of the Laropi-Moyo-Afoji and Katuna-Muko-Kamuganguzi roads.
“The Laropi-Moyo-Afoji/Katuna-Muko-Kamuganguzi road project is intended to improve rural transport connectivity and facilitate regional integration in the districts of Kabale, Rubanda, and Moyo, in Uganda. It will boost incomes, deepen regional integration, and facilitate trade while opening up an alternative transport corridor linking Uganda with South Sudan,” Augustine Ngafuan, the African Development Bank’s country manager, said in a statement.
The Laropi-Moyo-Afoji road project starts at Laropi in Moyo district and traverses through several villages before terminating at the border with South Sudan in Afoji. It is part of the Atiak-Moyo-Afogi route connecting the northwestern region and South Sudan to Kampala via Gulu.
Katuna-Muko-Kamuganguzi is in the southwestern part of the country, and consists of the 66 kilometre Katuna-Muko section and Muko-Kachwekano-Kamuganguzi, which is 38 kilometres long. It is currently a gravel road in poor condition, even as it supports a rich agricultural region and links several tourism sites — Lake Bunyonyi, Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, Mgahinga National Park, and Queen Elizabeth National Park, among others — to the borders of Uganda with Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The bank currently has 23 ongoing projects in Uganda with a total commitment of $1.9bn.
($1 = Shs3,814.33)
