EAC turns focus on Uganda-Kenya expressway

Feasibility studies for a transnational expressway connecting Uganda and Kenya are due to commence following the handing over of the site to the contractors.

The 256km multinational expressway will run from Kakira in Jinja district, Uganda, through Busitema to Malaba and Busia, and onwards to Kisian and Kisumu in Kenya. GOPA Infra GmbH of Germany together with ITEC Limited of Kenya have been contracted to carry out the studies.

The project will involve the rehabilitation of the existing two-lane single-carriageway to bitumen standards and the upgrading of the same into a two-lane dual-carriageway over a 104km stretch. The feasibility study worth $1.499 million (about Shs 5.72 billion) is funded by the African Development Bank (AfDB).

The studies will be carried out as one integrated project but in two distinct packages, aimed at determining the economic viability of upgrading the existing multinational road sections that ultimately connect the two countries to the port of Mombasa. The expressway is part of improvements on the Northern Corridor project which provides landlocked East African nations faster access to the world markets.

It will also form part of the Mombasa-Kigali expressway that was a priority at the EAC Heads of States Retreat on Infrastructure Development in February 2018 in Kampala. The rehabilitation along the EAC Northern Corridor is expected to contribute to strengthening road infrastructure within the EAC region to fast-track regional integration and spur cross-border trade. 

Speaking during the site handover to the contractors, EAC deputy secretary general in charge of infrastructure, productive, social and political sectors, Aguer Ariik Malueth, said the feasibility study is expected to last 18 months. Ariik said the upgrading of the expressway is expected to improve the transport services to five land-linked EAC partner states, namely Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan and DRC.

“It is our expectation that 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 westwards towards Katuna and Mpondwe so as to achieve a uniform high level of service along the entire corridor,” he said.

The EAC has 10 cross-border corridors that form the EAC Road Network Project totalling 15,000 kilometres, adding that the scope of the study will include the improvement of the Busia and Malaba One-Stop Border Posts (OSBPs) as well as the upgrading of Lwakhakha Border border post into an OSBP between Kenya and Uganda.

“The consultant is also expected to propose other measures including digitalisation of weighbridges, establishment of roadside rest areas and intelligent transport system,” he added.

Eng Godfrey Enzama, principal civil engineer at the EAC secretariat said that the road project will not only be expected to improve the transport flow, but also will address the issue of poor road safety along the road. 

Enzama added that the entire EAC region, and in particular some sections of the Northern Corridor, has very high incidences of fatal road crashes, brought about by a variety of reasons including driver behaviour, bad weather, poor road conditions and pedestrian-vehicle conflicts.