Stalled Kampala Northern Bypass Project Gains Momentum, To Be Completed Late 2021

The executive director Uganda National Roads Authority has said the Kampala Northern Bypass project will be completed in August 2021.

The on-going second phase of the Kampala Northern Bypass that commenced in July 2014 was expected to be completed in July 2017, but due to delays in land acquisition and design improvement, the project came to a standstill.

However, recently the project resumed in high gear and the current physical progress status as of end of February 2020 was at 70% and the contractor is said to be fully mobilized towards completion of the project by October 2021.

“The sections that are being substantially completed and deemed safe, will be progressively delivered to traffic before the end date, as is already the case with the main section between Busega to Hoima Rd, including the Sentema and Hoima interchanges and the three foot bridges at Kyebando, Ntinda and Naalya,” Kagina noted during a field visit on Thursday.

The field visit saw officials from the European Union, Ministry of Works & Transport, Ministry of Finance, UNRA, KCCA, the Contactor and Consultants inspecting the progress of works for the expansion of the Kampala Northern Bypass.

Government through UNRA undertook to construct the first phase of the Kampala Northern Bypass project between 2004 and 2009 with grant support from the European Union (EU) of EUR 52.2 million. The current Capacity Improvement of the Kampala Northern Bypass Project is the second phase of this highway construction project, co-funded by the Government of Uganda and the European Union through a EUR 40 million grant and a EUR 7.2 million loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB).

The current budget for works amounts to EUR 106 million, while for supervision amounts to EUR 11.53 million and Land Acquisition EUR 30 million.

The project involves Construction of an additional carriageway, approximately 17.5km long, to complete the dualisation of the Kampala Northern Bypass to a four-lane dual carriageway road;  Construction of three new footbridges at Kyebando, Ntinda, and Naalya to allow safe crossing of pedestrians across the road, Construction of six new grade-separated interchanges at Sentema, Hoima, Gayaza, Kyebando, Ntinda and Naalya to separate the express traffic along the Kampala Northern Bypass from the adjoining traffic from the connecting roads for instance Nabulagala – Sentema, Kampala – Hoima, Kampala – Gayaza roads among others.