Kabalega International Airport previously known as Kabaale International Airport in Hoima district, is expected to have its first cargo plane landing test in December 2023 before it is commissioned to start accommodating planes. 

The civil works for the massive $309 million project in Kabale Sub-County, started on April 18, 2018, by SBC Uganda Ltd in a joint venture with SBI International Holdings. 

The opening of the airport was planned for 2022 but Amos Muriisa, the public relations SBC Uganda says that works on the runway stand at 98% complete. 

Muriisa says plans to have a control tower are underway as relevant authorities are discussing funding and period extension issues. 

During a guided tour of members of the Inter-Religious Council of Uganda (IRCU) organised by the Petroleum Authority of Uganda, Muriisa confirmed that they expect to have the first cargo airplane landing at the airport in December 2023. 

Inter-religious council of Uganda leaders at Kabalega International Airport. Photo by Ambrose Niwagaba Katoto

"We plan to have a control tower before we hand it over. Discussions are still underway but December this year, we are going to test the airport because you can see the runway is 98% complete," Muriisa said. 

Muriisa has assured Ugandans that they have done quality work. 

Peter Muriisa, the chief legal and corporate affairs at Uganda National Oil Company (UNOC), says that the facility is being developed to support the transportation of materials required for the region’s oil industry as well as tourism. 

"The investment government has put here is a lot, about 350 million dollars in getting this done. The intention is that it is used to develop this country, bringing in equipment and taking our produce to other countries, and bring tourists, and who knows, we are going to have regional airstrips,", Peter Muriisa said. 

Sheikh Shaban Mubaje who was part of the IRCU team, commended the government for the infrastructure development being put in place. 

Mubaje noted that he hopes it will transform the lives of their congregations and start making bumper offerings instead of bringing sugarcanes to church. 

“According to what we are seeing, there is a future for Uganda. As religious leaders, we are hopeful that our people instead of bringing offertories in the form of eggs and sugarcane and clusters of bananas in churches or mosques, they will develop and one will say I am bringing one hundred bags of cement because of the prosperity which we anticipate in the near future," Mubaje said. 

The airport consists of a 3.5km runway that is 45 meters wide with shoulders of 15 meters on each side. 

The airport apron will be able to host four biggest cargo planes with two turn pads on either side. 

The IRCU members also visited the enviro serve area where they are managing waste products from oil drilling areas and civil works for Pump Station 1 of the East African Crude Oil Pipeline in Nyamasoga Village, Kabaale Sub-County in Hoima District.