Crosses Victoria Nile Design Cable-stayed bridge Total length 525 m Bridge type Cable-stayed bridge Location Njeru | Official name Second Nile Bridge Construction begin January 2014 Opened April 2018 Body of water White Nile Materials Steel, Concrete | |
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Carries Kampala–Jinja Expressway Locale Njeru, Uganda to Jinja, Uganda Similar Nalubaale Hydroelectric Power St, Jinja Hospital, Bujagali Hydroelectric Power St, Owen Falls, Omdurman Bridge | ||
The New Jinja Bridge, also referred to as the Second Nile Bridge or the New Nile Bridge, is a bridge under construction in Uganda. It will complement the Nalubaale Bridge, which was built in 1954.
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Location
The bridge is 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 is adjacent and immediately north of where the Uganda Railways line crosses the Victoria Nile. It is located on the proposed Kampala–Jinja Expressway, approximately 82 kilometres (51 mi), by road, east of Kampala, Uganda's capital and largest city. The coordinates of the New Jinja Bridge are 00 26 15N, 33 11 15E (Latitude:0.4375; Longitude:33.1875).
History
The Nalubaale Bridge is one of the only two road crossings across the Victoria Nile in Uganda, the other crossing being the Karuma Bridge, approximately 285 kilometres (177 mi), by road, to the north. 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. The old bridge, commissioned in 1954, is in bad structural shape and has outlived its expected lifespan. The new bridge will carry a four-lane dual highway with pedestrian sidewalks. It 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.
Construction costs
The total cost of the New Jinja Bridge is budgeted at US$125 million. The government of Japan will finance 80 percent of the cost, in the form of a soft loan of US$100 million at an annual interest rate of 0.01 percent, repayable in ten years but extendable to forty years. The government of Uganda will fund the remaining US$25 million (20 percent), out of its own coffers.
In November 2013, the Uganda National Roads Authority awarded the construction contract to the Zenitaka Corporation of Japan. Construction is expected to last four years. On 28 January 2014, the construction was launched by the President of Uganda.
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