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Japan News Release
1st November 2010
Japan Finances $102 million for Construction of New Nile Bridge
The Government of Japan and the Government of Uganda have today signed JPY 9.198 billion (approximately $102 million) loan financing agreement for the construction of a new bridge across River Nile at Jinja.
The Nile Bridge is located on the international corridor, which constitutes a major strategic link from Uganda and other neighbouring countries such as Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of Congo to Mombasa Port in Kenya. However, the existing bridge was constructed in the mid 1950s, and aging of the facility coupled with the increasing traffic volume accelerated the deterioration of the bridge. The construction of the New Nile Bridge will remove the bottleneck for the international transport and stimulate economic activities in East Africa, which is expected to bring bigger benefits to people in the region.
This year, Japanese Government has already provided Yen loan for two other regional projects through Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA):
(1) Upgrading of Atiak-Nimule Road; and
(2) Construction and upgrading of 220kv lines and transformer stations between Uganda-Kenya and Uganda-Rwanda.
With the New Nile Bridge project, Japan’s loan contribution to Uganda in 2010 reaches $190 million in total.
These projects are to realize the commitments Japanese Government made at TICAD IV (Tokyo International Conference on African Development) held in May 2008 in Japan. The conference highlighted the importance of the infrastructure development as a critical factor to boost economic growth in Africa.