African Development Bank (AfDB) announced in a statement published on June 22 it has granted Uganda and Rwanda a total of $245 million in loans to finance road infrastructures which aim to facilitate trade in the region.

Uganda will receive from this sum $151 million to build a 23.7km-long freeway which will connect Kampala (Busega area) to Mpigi, which is located in the North Corridor. That is the main road passing through the region.

As for Rwanda, it will receive $94 million to rehabilitate a 208km-long road that goes from the north to the south of the country and connecting Kagitumba (Uganda-Rwanda border) to Rusumo (Tanzania-Rwanda border).

Reinforcing these roads coincides with the goals of the East African Community (EAC) to fight poverty and boost regional integration in the Great Lakes area.

In Uganda, the two-way road between Busega and Mpigi is saturated with a traffic exceeding 26,000 cars a day. After the freeway is built, it will take 20 minutes to travel between these places as compared to an hour presently. In Rwanda, it will take twice less time to travel between Kagitumba and Rusumo, thus from three hours (against six currently). Works for these two projects should take two and a half years.

Total cost of this project which aims to boost regional integration is $376.6 million. It will be provided by AfDB ($244.6 million), JICA ($56.3 million), European Union ($22.4 million), Uganda and Rwanda’s governments ($53.2 million).