Government will borrow Shs1.3 trillion from London banks to finance the construction of Kabale International Airport in the oil region of western Uganda.
The airport is one of the planned infrastructure developments ahead of scheduled oil production in 2020.
Parliament sitting on Tuesday, 28th Nov. 2017 approved a government request to borrow a total of Euros 307 million from UK Export Finance and Standard Chartered Bank (London) for the construction of the airport in Hoima.
The Minister of State for Finance, Hon. David Bahati said that the construction of the airport will be among the infrastructure needed to facilitate the oil exploration process in the Albertine Region.
“Key among the infrastructure will be a petroleum based industrial park, which will host the refinery, an international airport, petrochemical industries and energy based industries, among others,” Bahati said.
He added that the in relation to the priorities of the oil companies, the airport is ready for operation to facilitate the refinery construction in parallel with the oil field developments.
“There is no airport to handle the heavy and large aircrafts that will be transporting equipment. This is because the present road infrastructure cannot handle the weight and extra sized cargo without making substantial infrastructure adjustment which is quite costly and time bound, hence the construction of an airport,” the Minister said.
He noted that in the medium to long term, the airport will support the increased propensity to travel among the local population and tourists travelling from Hoima to surrounding areas.
Parliament, additionally passed two other loan request: US$ 84 million to finance the upgrading of the Kapchorwa-Suam Road under the multinational: Uganda/Kenya: Kapchorwa-Suam-Kitale and Eldoret bypass road projects; and US$14.4 million to support Multinational Lake Victoria Maritime Communications and Transport Project.
Source: Parliamentary News