CONSTRUCTION OF NEW NILE BRIDGE AT JINJA GETS BOOST AFTER EMIRATES CARGO DELIVERS CRUCIAL HARDWARE TO ENTEBBE
(Posted 09th January 2016)
An Emirates B777F aircraft delivered crucial components and hardware to Uganda to give new momentum to the construction of the second Nile bridge in Jinja, which has been slowing down considerably due to lack of materials.
It is understood that the charter flight into Entebbe was ordered by a Japanese company involved in the project.
Work, which by now should have reached about 30 percent of the construction is lingering at below 20 percent at present, according to information sourced in Kampala and the completion date of April 2018 is very uncertain at the moment.
The new bridge will be a cable suspension bridge unlike the present river crossing which uses the Owen Falls Dam, now over 60 years old, to cross from the Western to the Eastern shore of the river. The new bridge’s dimensions were on construction start given to be 290 metres across the river with the ramp portions 135 metres and 200 metres long respectively while the width of the dual carriage crossing will be nearly 23 metres wide, including two pedestrian walkways. The present river crossing will, when the new bridge has been opened to traffic, be rehabilitated to allow for a second crossing should this become necessary. Road access will be re-aligned to link the new bridge to the present highway which links Uganda to the Kenyan border points of Busia and Malaba.
In a related development was it also impossible to ascertain the progress on the newly planned dual carriage highway which is due to link Kampala with the new bridge in Jinja as sources contacted at the Uganda National Roads Authority claimed to have no clearance to speak on such matters.
Jinja, dubbed as East Africa’s adventure capital, is very popular with tourists who come to the upper Nile valley for white water rafting, kayaking, horseback trips along the river banks, quad biking, cross country cycling and even for an albeit short bungee jump, compared to the 111 metres leap one takes off the Victoria Falls bridge. The town is popular with back packers as well as mainstream tourists and a number of safari lodges and resorts located on the river have been constructed in recent years to accommodate such traffic.
