Investment 'should improve Uganda roads'

28 September 2009

A $173.1 million (£108.9 million) loan towards a road infrastructure project in Uganda should improve general transport conditions and the lives of hundreds of thousands of residents, the African Development Bank (AfDB) has said.

"The project will improve transport services with reductions in [travel] costs, travel times and improved road safety," the bank statement noted.

"It will directly enhance the livelihood of an estimated 800,000 people," the AfDB went on to add.

As part of the country's Road Sector Support Project 3, the money will also go towards the construction of a weigh-bridge and feasibility studies for other potential networks between Kayunga-Galiraya (83 kilometres) and Hoima-Butiaba-Wanseko (111 kilometres).

The main work will be the 143-kilometres between Nyakahita, Ibanda and Kamwenge in western Uganda and is expected to take five years.

President Yoweri Museveni recently told United Nations audiences that lack of transport infrastructure was one of the main factors hindering sub-saharan Africa's progress.

He highlighted a pressing need to build and repair these networks and build railways on the continent.

Category: Transport