Skip to main content

East Africa’s massive new ring road project

Plans are being drawn up for a major new highway project in East Africa. Preparations are being made by the authorities in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. The 450km ring road route runs around the shoreline of Lake Victoria and will provide better transport connections for Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, as well as for other near neighbours, particularly Rwanda and Burundi. New border posts will be required, to help increase the flow of traffic between the nations. Although it will be complex, the project will boos
June 30, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
RSSPlans are being drawn up for a major new highway project in East Africa. Preparations are being made by the authorities in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. The 450km ring road route runs around the shoreline of Lake Victoria and will provide better transport connections for Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, as well as for other near neighbours, particularly Rwanda and Burundi. New border posts will be required, to help increase the flow of traffic between the nations. Although it will be complex, the project will boost transport connectivity around the lake area and develop trade and commerce between the three nations, as well as Rwanda and Burundi. It is expected to cost in the region of US$410 million to construct, but the economic benefits of the road to these five nations will vastly outweigh the building costs.

Feasibility studies are now being carried out with a view to providing the basis for a more detailed route, as well as assessing any potential environmental issues. Once the feasibility studies are complete design work can commence. Much of the funding for the project is expected to be sourced from the World Bank.

Kenya’s portion of the route would most likely run from Bumula in Busia County to Muhuru Bay in Migori County, according to the local authorities in Kenya’s Homa-Bay. The routes for the sections running through Uganda and Tanzania have yet to be revealed.

Related Content

  • G&Z pave the way as East meets West
    March 28, 2014
    The Silk Route is one of the oldest trading links between Europe and Asia and is being upgraded with some of the newest equipment. The nation of Georgia is located on what is known as the ‘crossroads’ between Western Asia and Eastern Europe. It lies to the east of the Black Sea and is on one of the shortest routes between western China and Europe. Since the Middle Ages this strategically important country has played host to one of the network of roads collectively known as the Silk Route. For much of the 20
  • Global pressures driving bitumen developments
    June 19, 2015
    A raft of global pressures is driving developments in the materials and equipment we use for the handling, storage and treatment of bitumen. The goal is to achieve better performance and longer life for less financial outlay, and at the same time overcome the challenges of inconsistent and varying bitumen supplies. Kristina Smith reports.
  • Chinese contractor wins major Nigerian road project
    November 11, 2013
    A road construction contract worth US$1.07 billion has been awarded to China Railway Construction in Nigeria. The Ministry of Delta Affairs of Nigeria awarded the package of works for Section V of the A121 East-West highway to China Civil Engineering Construction, a division of China Railway Construction. The work is expected to take five years to complete and includes design as well as construction. When it is complete, the A121 will connect Nigeria’s two main North-South highways. Its route runs from the
  • Work commencing on key New Zealand tunnel link
    August 3, 2012
    New Zealand prime minister John Key led an official ground-breaking ceremony this week to allow the start of excavation work for two new 2.4km-long motorway tunnels beneath suburban Auckland. The Waterview Connection project is on schedule to begin its main construction phase next year, and the prime minister was on hand to turn the first soil for a 30m-deep trench which is needed to allow access for the tunnels’ southern approach trench in the west Auckland suburb of Owairaka.