Bukasa Inland Port is a planned

inland port An inland port is a port on an inland waterway, such as a river, lake, or canal, which may or may not be connected to the sea. The term "inland port" is also used to refer to a dry port. Examples The United States Army Corps of Engineers publ ...

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...

Location

The port would be located along the northern shores of

Lake Victoria Lake Victoria is one of the African Great Lakes. With a surface area of approximately , Lake Victoria is Africa's largest lake by area, the world's largest tropical lake, and the world's second-largest fresh water lake by surface area after ...

, on approximately in the neighborhood of Bukasa in

Wakiso District Wakiso District is a district in the Central Region of Uganda that partly encircles Kampala, Uganda's capital city. The town of Wakiso is the site of the district headquarters. Kira, the country's second largest city and suburb of Kampala, is in ...

, approximately , by road, south-east of the central business district of

Kampala Kampala (, ) is the capital and largest city of Uganda. The city proper has a population of 1,680,000 and is divided into the five political divisions of Kampala Central Division, Kawempe Division, Makindye Division, Nakawa Division, and Ruba ...

, the capital and largest city of Uganda. When fully functional, the port is expected to occupy a bigger land area. Efforts to secure more land are underway. In February 2019, the

Daily Monitor The ''Daily Monitor'' is a Ugandan independent daily newspaper. Its name is shared by the ''Saturday Monitor'' and ''Sunday Monitor'', which are also published by Monitor Publications Limited. ''Daily Monitor'' averaged a daily circulation of 24,2 ...

reported that the project area had been increased to .

Overview

When completed the inland port is designed to handle up to 5.2 million tonnes of freight annually. The port will facilitate movement of goods from the

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...

n ports of

Dar es Salaam Dar es Salaam (; from ar, دَار السَّلَام, Dâr es-Selâm, lit=Abode of Peace) or commonly known as Dar, is the largest city and financial hub of Tanzania. It is also the capital of Dar es Salaam Region. With a population of over s ...

and

Tanga Tanga may refer to: Places Burkina Faso * , a town in eastern Burkina Faso * Tanga, Sidéradougou, a village in western Burkina Faso * Tanga-Pela, a village in northern-central Burkina Faso Other places * Tanga, Tanzania, a city and port on th ...

, via rail to the port of

Mwanza Mwanza City, also known as Rock City to the residents, is a port city and capital of Mwanza Region on the southern shore of Lake Victoria in north-western Tanzania. With an urban population of 1,182,000 in 2021, it is Tanzania's second largest cit ...

on Lake Victoria. Barges would then bring the cargo over the lake to Bukasa. This would reduce Uganda's near-total dependence on the port of

Mombasa, Kenya Mombasa ( ; ) is a coastal city in southeastern Kenya along the Indian Ocean. It was the first capital of the British East Africa, before Nairobi was elevated to capital city status. It now serves as the capital of Mombasa County. The town is ...

Funding

Two

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

financial institutions agreed to lend US$48 million towards the construction of this port. The Uganda government will contribute US$8.5 million to this project. The funding for the construction of the port is as depicted in the table below: Totals may be off slightly, due to rounding.

Construction

, ''GAUFF Gmbh & Co. Engineering KG'', a

firm that is performing the consultancy work for the construction of the port, is finalizing the master design of the development. In July 2018, dredging of the swamps is expected to commence. Physical construction of the administration unit and the shipping facilities called Roll-on/Roll-off (RoRo) is expected to commence in June 2019, and last until April 2022. More development and expansion will continue until 2030. Construction of the initial phase is expected to last three years. In February 2019, the National Environment Management Authority of Uganda (NEMA), approved the construction of this inland port. Construction will be phased. ; Phase I The first phase will involve construction of the port, administration jetty, free trade zone, shunting yard, a two-berth multipurpose terminal and a two berth Roro terminal. ; Phase II The second phase, expected to be complete by 2030, will extend the multipurpose terminal by additional two berths to a total quay length of . ; Phase III The third phase, to be completed by 2040, will extend the quay length of the multipurpose terminal to . All three phases will require the dredging Lake Victoria.

References

External links