| New Jinja Bridge | |
|---|---|
| Carries | Kampala-Jinja Highway |
| Crosses | Victoria Nile |
| Locale | Njeru, Uganda to Jinja, Uganda |
| Material | steel, concrete |
| Opened | 2016 (Expected) |
|
New Jinja Bridge
|
|
The New Jinja Bridge is a proposed bridge to be constructed in Uganda. It will complement the Nalubaale Bridge, which was built in 1954.[1]
Contents |
The bridge will be located at Njeru, a suburb of Jinja, on the Victoria Nile, between the Source of the Nile to the south and Nalubaale Power Station to the north. This location is adjacent and immediately north of where the Uganda Railways line crosses the Victoria Nile. It is located on the Kampala-Jinja Highway, approximately 82 kilometres (51 mi), by road, east of Kampala, Uganda's capital and largest city.[2] The coordinates of the New Jinja Bridge are:00 26 15N, 33 11 15E (Latitude:0.4375; Longitude:33.1875).[3]
The Nalubaale Bridge is one of the only two road crossings across the Victoria Nile in Uganda, the other crossings being the Karuma Bridge, approximately 285 kilometres (177 mi), by road, to the north.[4] The road crossing at Jinja is of national and regional significance because it is part of the "Northern Corridor" a highway across East and Central Africa, linking the Indian Ocean at Mombasa, Kenya, to the Atlantic Ocean at Matadi, Democratic Republic of the Congo.[5] The old bridge, commissioned in 1954, is in bad structural shape and has outlived its expected lifespan.
Construction is expected to start in August 2012 and last four (4) years. The bridge will carry a four-lane highway and will be the longest bridge in Uganda at 525 metres (1,722 ft) long. The feasibility studies were conducted by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).[6]
The total cost of the New Jinja Bridge is budgeted at US$125 million. The Government of Japan will finance 80% of the cost, in form of a soft loan of US$100 million at an annual interest rate of 0.01%, repayable in ten (10) years, but extendable to forty (40) years.[7] The Government of Uganda will fund the remaining US$25 million (20%), out of its own coffers.[8]
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
