Greater Kampala

View of Murchison Bay

It’s a funny thing that I’ll be totally honest about; I really don’t put much effort or thought into understanding politics.  This might sound abhorrent to any Brits or Americans out there who religiously paint themselves red or blue every four years depending on their upbringing and social status.  However although the importance of freedom, equality and transparency has been drummed into me after living in a ‘single party democracy’ for the last three years, I still find it hard to get excited or passionate about frankly something I have very little control over personally.  Sure I could choose a side, paint a sign with a witty slogan and march around in my pyjamas but I suppose that’s where the passion comes into play.  However saying all this, sometimes in my job I get to sit in a more privileged position than most and get to see the workings of government in action.

Occasionally I have the chance to witness the slow moving cogs being oiled and set in motion as decisions are made that will affect the population five, ten, fifty years down the line and the passion starts to rise.  Although the majority of politics can be a bit of a snooze-fest, the development of infrastructure in anywhere in the World ignites my interest.  Therefore I’ve put together a list of up and coming projects that are in the pipeline of the decision makers of Uganda.  Projects that are planned for construction in the next twenty years to bring the country in line with its neighbours and other rapidly developing countries all for you to digest and maybe also get excited about.  The list is made up of projects currently in construction, those on the drawing board and other possible schemes that the writer thinks are important for Uganda in helping realise its dreams;

Kampala – Entebbe Expressway; this much needed route between the capital city and the only international airport in the country is currently under construction.  Work started in early 2013 and is expected to last four years.  At a cost of $476 million this will form one of the early Ugandan Public Private Partnership projects (in the wake of the Bujagali dam PPP project in Jinja) and will be run as a toll road earning the private sector revenue to offset the construction cost, before being handed over to the government to enhance their road-building coffers.

Approximate locations for the Expressway, Southern Bypass & Ngaali Bridge Schemes

Karuma Falls Dam; set in the backdrop of one of the largest National Parks in Uganda and on a stretch of the River Nile, this slightly controversial project is expected to generate a much needed 600MW of power for Uganda.  Due to its central location at one of only two current crossings of the Nile in the Pearl of Africa it is ideally located to send power to the under-developed North whilst also serving Kampala with even more important clean and natural power.  Now of course all hydro-electric schemes have their critics but the benefits for this particular scheme could be argued to outweigh the negatives on a stretch of river that is currently not used for tourism or local fisherman, but will hopefully bring them all benefits whilst also hopefully help open up the North to development and closer ties to the seat of government through greater inclusion.  The cost of the project is estimated at a total cost of $2 billion (including associated infrastructure) and my one hope is that the designers of the dam include a river crossing in their plans to allow for a decent highway into the North. 

Lunatic Express Upgrade; the metre gauge rail line between the Kenyan border and Pakwach to the North and Kampala/Kasase to the West is not too far from celebrating its centenary.  Built in the early twentieth century as an extension to the route from Mombasa, it has run its course and is rarely used anymore to carry passengers and freight.  With just 5-10% of all freight travelling from Mombasa to Kampala by rail an upgrade is drastically needed and is well timed to coincide with Kenya’s own upgrade project which broke ground in November 2013.  The upgrade to the once dubbed Lunatic Express within Uganda to a Standard Gauge modern railway has been split into two manageable chunks, which in order of development are the 250km Malaba-Kampala section and 500km Tororo-Pakwach section with spurs to Nimule near the South Sudanese border.  At the time of writing preliminary design work was on-going for both sections of the upgrade with work scheduled to be completed by the middle of 2018 at a joint Kenya-Uganda cost estimate of $13 Billion that will bring increased freight and possibly passenger services to the historic line allowing people to travel the 1,500km from Mombasa to the Congolese border at Goli in a fraction of the time it currently takes.

Kampala Flyover Project; the wheels are in motion on a more Kampala centred project that aims to reduce the journey times between the Clock Tower near the Entebbe Road and the Africana Hotel roundabout on Jinja road to just 5 minutes.  The Japanese International Cooperation Agency, who is currently heavily involved in the new Nile crossing at Jinja, has issued the final report of the preliminary design for improving the Kampala CBD congestion.  Alongside junction upgrades and new traffic management signals the proposal includes the creation of flyovers across certain sections of the current road network.  In line with KCCA transport infrastructure plans the scheme will cost somewhere in the region of $70 Million with construction starting in 2016 and taking two full years to complete.

Southern Kampala Bypass; starting at the end of the Easterly spur of the new Entebbe-Kampala Expressway at Munyonyo, the proposed Kampala Southern Bypass will complete the orbital beltway around the Greater Kampala Metropolitan area.  Although the exact route for the 18km bypass is yet to be determined, a large focus will be on minimising resettlement costs by potentially using existing highways.  One thing is certain though is that the bypass will go some way to freeing up the currently clogged arteries of South-Eastern Kampala and allow rapid movement between Jinja Road to the North and Entebbe to the South.  The estimated cost of the link road is approximately $250 Million.

Kampala – Jinja Expressway; plans are afoot to find the best method of improving this section of the Trans African Highway that has reached the end of its useful lifespan.  Unfortunately in hindsight maybe, the original Jinja Road was built through a portion of the very important Mabira Primary Forest.  Which means it is impossible from a conservational point of view, to expand the current road and therefore a new section has to be created to divert around the Southern edge of the forest.   At an estimated at $800 Million this new multi-lane highway will transport goods and people between the two important hubs in record time whilst hopefully allowing what remains of Mabira to rejuvenate to its former glory…unless the sugar companies have their way.  Work on the Kampala to Jinja Expressway is set to begin in 2015.

Murchison Bay Bridge; with the Southern Bypass set to be constructed along the shores from Munyonyo and the Kampala-Jinja Expressway heading south under the lovely Mabira Forest there seems to be a link that hasn't been considered; a connection to open up a new era of greater Kampala on the other side of Murchison Bay.  Okay, to be honest this is one of my concepts dreamt up one Friday evening with some fellow Engineers, but in order to truly become a 21^st Century city Kampala needs a signature structure.  And what better way to achieve this than a with signature bridge connecting ‘Old’ Kampala to a new highly organised and well planned future city on the Eastern shores of Murchison Bay.  “The Ngaali Bridge” will launch itself from the end of Ggaba Road beside the National Water compound and soar gracefully across the kilometre of water coming to rest on the opposite side of the bay with views of Port Bell to the North and Lake Victoria to the South.  At its western end it will be connected to the Southern Bypass, while in the East it will have a direct link to the Kampala-Jinja Expressway and upgraded Railway line, truly putting Kampala on the map.

Bukasa Port; with Port Bell up to capacity and future trade with Tanzania via Lake Victoria set to boom it has been suggested that a new port will be needed.  With its links to the growing satellite industrial area of Namanve outside Kampala and the future roads and rails schemes already mentioned Bukasa has been flagged as the key location.  An area of 500 hectares has been earmarked for development at an estimated cost of $180 million.  Once again critics of the project include local stakeholders who argue of their lack of involvement in the project whilst those in favour argue it is necessary to improve the lake trade and will benefit all Ugandans.  Personally I think the location within the already congested and polluted Murchison Bay is incorrect and should be pushed further along the coast away from the Greater Kampala area allowing for a regeneration of the Bay for the benefit of the inhabitants of the capital.

Kampala City Airport; in October 2013 the Uganda CAA showed its hand in their wish to construct a second international airport close to the city.  With the number of road, rail and shipping projects already covered in this article, their early consideration of a 300 hectare plot in the Namanve area makes a lot of sense.  The airport would supplement the existing Entebbe airport which itself is in the early stages of an expansion and is expected to cost between $100-150 Million for its first stages.  I suspect the airport will start its days as more of an East African hub in the same way London City airport supplements Heathrow and Gatwick in the UK as a Euro-centric airport in the heart of the capital.  However over time it may grow to help share the international load with Entebbe as airlines compete for better flight times.  A new airport will certainly be a very useful string to Uganda’s growing aviation industry and can only help in its vision in becoming an important and integral part of the East African community.  Now all we need are cheaper Intra-African flight prices to make the option of flying more affordable.