Menu

The African Development Bank has approved a financing package for the governments of Kenya and Uganda to fund the reconstruction of roads that connect both countries in order to facilitate intra-African trade.

The Abidjan-based multilateral lender said it approved $253 million to reconstruct a 118 km road section connecting the countries as well as the construction of the 32 km Eldoret town bypass in Kenya.

When completed in 2021, the AfDB said the project will help to improve the living standards of the 1.4 million people in the project’s zone of influence.

“The proposed intervention is…contributing to the integration of the East African Community countries; improving the quality of life by providing socio-economic facilities to people in the zone of influence; increasing agricultural production through access to markets and the reduction of transport cost, which lowers the cost of doing business that will play pivotal role in industrialization,” said Amadou Oumarou, the Director of the Infrastructure, Cities and Urban Development Department at the AfDB.

The reconstructed road, which connects Kapchorwa (Uganda) to Kitale (Kenya), will provide an all-weather access for citizens, farmers and traders. The project also includes a construction of a One Stop Border Post in Suam to facilitate trade between the two countries.

The road, which will be upgraded from gravel to bitumen, will also reduce the travel time in Uganda (Kapchorwa-Suam) from four hours to 1.5 hours and in Kenya (Suam-Kitale) from 1.5 hours to 45 minutes.

The project’s expected outcomes are: improved accessibility to traders and transporters using the border and people living in the project area with reductions in travel time and transport cost; increased mobility; and improved accessibility to economic and social facilities; and provision of market facilities and support to communities through access road and water supply.

The AfDB said its financing will cover 89 percent and 88 percent of the Ugandan and Kenyan governments’ project costs, respectively. The Ugandan and Kenyan government will contribute 11 percent and 12 percent, respectively, as counterpart funding.