Uganda gets Sh15.4b loan from AfDB for toll road

 

African Development Bank (AfDB). (Photo: Courtesy)

Uganda will expand a major road linking its capital Kampala with Rwanda after signing a deal on Thursday for a $151 million (Sh 15.4 billion) loan from the African Development Bank (AfDB).

The 40-year loan will partly finance a new 23 km, 4-lane toll road to help de-congest traffic on an existing road, the finance ministry and AfDB said, adding the government would fund the remainder of the $192 million (Sh19.6 billion) project.

In recent years East African countries have been investing heavily in transportation infrastructure to help boost trade. A significant chunk of that investment has been directed toward upgrading sections of what is known as East Africa’s northern corridor, a transport artery that loops in Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, stretching eastward to the Kenyan sea port of Mombasa.