KAMPALA, March 19 (Xinhua) -- Uganda and the African Development Bank (AfDB) have signed a contract for a 229.5-million-U.S.-dollar road construction project which will boost trade between the country and its neighbors, a statement said Thursday.
The money will be used to finance the Kampala-Jinja Expressway, which will cut travel time and boost trade along an important artery linking Uganda with its neighbors -- Rwanda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan and Kenya, the AfDB said in a statement posted on its website.
The bank said the project will be a public-private partnership that would improve travel flow from more than three hours to under one hour between Jinja and Kampala.
"The public-private partnership model will bring in private sector participation and financing of key infrastructure in Uganda and will yield a significant economic return for the country with an estimated net revenue of 2.1 billion dollars over the 30-year concession period," said Augustine Kpehe Ngafuan, the AfDB's country manager for Uganda who signed the agreement.
Uganda's Minister of Finance Matia Kasaija, who signed on behalf of Uganda, said the successful implementation of the project would spur trade volumes and economic growth in Uganda and among its neighbors. Enditem