President Museveni’s Senior Presidential press secretary Lindah Nabusayi has announced that the President and his DR Congo counterpart, Felix Tshisekedi, will officially open the Mpondwe bridge in Kaseke district on Wednesday, June 16.
This comes a month after both countries signed an intergovernmental agreement at the State House Entebbe on May 27. President Yoweri Museveni signed on behalf of Uganda, while DRC Prime Minister Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde signed on behalf of his country.
Speaker of Parliament Jacob Oulanyah and the Permanent Secretary Ministry of Works and Transport Bageya Waiswa, as well as Congo’s Foreign Affairs Minister Christophe Lutundula were at the ratification.
The Mpondwe bridge project was undertaken to replace the old Bailey Bridge which was considered unsafe for the heavy vehicular traffic that comprises heavy cargo trucks.
Apart from the Mpondwe bridge in Kaseke, the project includes upgrading of a national road of 80km from Kasidi at the border between the two countries to Beni.
DRC remains one of Uganda’s biggest trading partners. It is considered an alternative market for Uganda since a civil conflict broke out in South Sudan in 2013 and when Rwanda closed its common border with Uganda.
All totalling 223km of road; on the Ugandan axis, the Beni-Butembo axis (54km) will be integrated to a national road and Bunagana (border) to Ruchuru-Goma (89km).
Cabinet in September 2020 approved the project to support the lucrative business opportunities between the two countries.