Uhuru Infrastructure has completed a full review and update of the Kampala–Bombo Expressway's preparatory documentation — the feasibility study and preliminary design, the Environmental & Social Impact Assessment, and the Resettlement Framework — to support the project's rights application.

The documents, originally prepared under the Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA), were reviewed and updated by Steward Consultancy on behalf of Uhuru Infrastructure and finalised in November 2025. Together they form the complete technical, environmental and social case for one of Uganda's most important urban-corridor projects.

Why the corridor needs it

The existing Kampala–Bombo road is one of Uganda's main arterial routes: the gateway from the capital to the towns and cities of the north, and a trade route to the northern regions and neighbouring countries. Yet it remains a Class B national trunk road just nine metres wide — a single 3.5-metre lane and one-metre shoulder in each direction.

That nine metres must carry everything: long-distance freight, commuter traffic, boda-bodas, and the daily commercial life of the dense trading centres it passes through — Kawempe, Kagoma, Matugga, Kigogwa and Migadde — where operating speeds fall as low as 50 km/h. The result is one of the country's most persistent bottlenecks, throttling movement on a corridor that should be an engine of growth.

The expressway in detail

The updated preliminary design confirms a modern, fully grade-separated expressway running from the Kampala Northern Bypass north past the town of Bombo:

  • A four-lane dual carriageway. Traffic analysis confirms the four-lane configuration serves corridor demand, with land and structures dimensioned for the corridor's future;
  • 120 km/h mainline design speed, engineered to AASHTO geometric standards alongside Uganda's national design manuals, with 80 km/h link roads connecting local communities;
  • Five grade-separated interchanges — gyratory interchanges at Kawempe, Matugga and Bombo, a diamond interchange at Kigogwa, and a full systems interchange where the expressway meets the planned Kampala Outer Beltway;
  • Toll plazas and weighbridges integrated into the design from day one — protecting the pavement from overloading and underpinning the commercial model of the PPP;
  • An independent road safety audit, whose findings were incorporated before the preliminary design was finalised;
  • Full geotechnical investigations and pavement design, based on forecast traffic loading and subgrade conditions, with pavement structures optimised for lifecycle cost rather than lowest first cost.
"Feasibility before finance. Design before construction. That is how bankable infrastructure is made."

Anchored in national policy

The expressway is not a standalone idea. It is fully aligned with Uganda Vision 2040, the National Integrated Transport Master Plan, the Greater Kampala Metropolitan Transport Plan and the Kampala Physical Development Plan — and forms part of the planned national expressway network whose first projects are already being implemented. Its objectives are the policy's objectives: efficient and reliable transport to spur economic growth, a lower cost of doing business, growth in services and manufacturing, fewer accidents, and orderly urban development along the capital's northern corridor.

What a rights application means

For a public-private partnership, the rights application is the gateway moment: the point at which a fully prepared project — engineering, economics, environment and social safeguards all in order — is placed before government for the rights needed to develop, finance and deliver it.

That is why the completeness of the documentation matters. A project supported by rigorous, internationally benchmarked studies gives government a sound basis for decision-making — and gives future lenders and investors the evidence they require. It is the difference between a proposal and a bankable project.

What happens next

With the updated package complete, the project advances through its rights application and PPP structuring with government counterparts — the gateway to financial close, detailed engineering design and phased construction. Uhuru Infrastructure will continue to publish milestones as the project progresses.

The documents, one by one

The Feasibility Study & Preliminary Design is the engineering backbone: traffic data collection and forecasting, geometric design of the mainline and interchanges, geotechnical investigations, pavement design, road safety audit, and the drainage and structures analysis that turns a corridor concept into a buildable scheme.

The Environmental & Social Impact Assessment establishes the corridor's environmental and social baselines, identifies every significant impact of construction and operation, and pairs each with mitigation — enforced through a management and monitoring plan that follows the project through its life.

The Resettlement Framework governs how the project treats people whose land or livelihoods are affected: transparent eligibility, fair compensation delivered before displacement, and accessible grievance mechanisms — prepared through corridor-wide consultation and focus-group discussions.

A corridor with history

The Kampala–Bombo corridor has been studied before — the underlying documents were first prepared under the Uganda National Roads Authority. What the November 2025 update does is bring the full package to current conditions and standards, under Uhuru Infrastructure's development of the project as a PPP: traffic data refreshed, design standards confirmed against current AASHTO and national manuals, safeguards updated to today's corridor reality. Nothing about this project is speculative; it stands on more than a decade of accumulated public planning, now carried forward to bankability.

What investors should take from this

For investors and lenders, the message of a complete, updated preparatory package is simple: the technical risk of this project has been systematically retired. Demand is evidenced, the design is engineered and safety-audited, environmental and social risks are identified and costed for management, and land matters have a governing framework. What remains is the concession and financing process — exactly the work now under way.

About Uhuru Infrastructure

Uhuru Infrastructure is an infrastructure development company originating, developing and delivering large-scale transport infrastructure across East and Central Africa through public-private partnership. From the Kampala–Bombo Expressway in Uganda to the Kasindi–Beni–Butembo trade corridor in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uhuru transforms strategic routes into bankable, investment-ready assets — built to international standards, and built for the people they serve. Uhuru is the Swahili word for freedom: freedom to move, freedom to grow.

Partnership and investment enquiries: contact us or write to info@uhuruinfrastructure.africa.