• Uganda plans to borrow $358 million from regional and international financial institutions.

• Funds will finance an electricity interconnection with South Sudan and a road link to the DRC.

• The loans aim to strengthen regional integration and expand access to clean water.

Uganda intends to borrow $358 million from several regional and international financial institutions. The funds will primarily finance various infrastructure projects, including an electricity transmission line to neighboring South Sudan, Assistant Minister of Finance Henry Musasizi announced on September 16, 2025. These projects aim to bolster regional integration.

Mr. Musasizi specified the loans would come from the African Development Fund (ADF), the concessional lending window of the African Development Bank Group, the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA), and the British bank Standard Chartered Bank. He presented the loan request to Parliament.

According to Musasizi, the funds will also finance other initiatives. These include a section of the road connecting northwestern Uganda to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and expanding access to potable water.

Uganda achieved an electricity surplus following the September 2024 commissioning of the 600-megawatt Karuma hydroelectric power station on the Nile. China financed 85% of this plant. The facility now enables the country to meet internal demand and export surplus power to neighboring nations such as South Sudan, Tanzania, and Rwanda.

Within this framework, Kampala plans the construction of an electricity transmission line linking Olwiyo town in northern Uganda to Juba, the capital of South Sudan. The project also encompasses a new substation in Bibia (Uganda), the modernization of existing substations in Karuma and Olwiyo, and the construction of a new substation in Gumbo (South Sudan).

The Ugandan government has initiated negotiations with Chinese construction firm Sinohydro to develop this project. It aims to stimulate cross-border electricity trade in East Africa.

This article was initially published in French by Walid Kéfi

Adapted in English by Ange Jason Quenum