Parliament approves bypass loan

By Billy Rwothungeyo

Parliament has finally approved a loan for the expansion of the Northern bypass. The 18m euros borrowed from the European Investment Bank will be added to the 40m euros grant secured from the European Union towards the project.

With the Government contributing 20% of the cost of the project, the Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) says it has enough money to start the project.

“If all goes according to plan, we hope to have a contractor by October this year,” Dan Alinange, UNRA’s head of corporate communications said.

The roads authority has also revised the conditions of the contract notice of the project. Bidders are now free to subcontract part of the works. Initially, subcontracting was not allowed.

“It is important to give contractors that flexibility as long as it is not abused. UNRA will be involved in approving some of these sub-contractors,” Alinange said.

Due to the increase in the scope of works, the implementation period of the contract has also been extended from 38 months to 41 months. Consequently, the bidding deadline has been extended from May 15 to May 22.

“The project involves making the entire 21km of the Bypass dual carriage and removing roundabouts and replacing them with flyovers. Some roundabouts such as Sentema and Hoima road had been left out because of limited funds,” he said.

Presently, only 3.5kms of the 21km road is dual-carriage. On completion of the expansion, the bypass will feed into the Entebbe Express highway which is due in four years’ time.