Africa-Press – uganda. TOURISM |The African Development Bank (AfDB) has endorsed a $71.5m (about sh262b) loan), part of which will fund the upgrading of key tourism roads and boost livelihoods.According to a press statement from AfDB, dated December 4, the African Development Fund (ADF) board has approved the money to pave sections of two roads in southwestern Uganda.The project is expected to spur school attendance and rural connectivity. Disbursement will be under the ADF-15; AfDB’s concessional lending window.The credit facility is 86% of the project’s total cost and the Government will meet the remaining $11.9m (about sh43.6b).The bank’s director of infrastructure and urban development, Amadou Oumarou, said the credit facility will translate into economic opportunities for Uganda.”This innovative and integrated infrastructure development project is poised to increase market development, widen business opportunities, and scale up food productivity. This would also enhance income levels in southwestern Uganda,” Oumarou said.Development spurAfDB, head-quartered in Abidjan, Ivory Coast envisages that the intervention will have a complementary approach.This implies that it will blend investment in road renewal with investment in farming and other infrastructure. It is purposed to increase market access for farm produce, productivity in a rural part of the country and strengthen social welfare.Expected outcomes include improved tourism earnings, higher farm gate prices for commodities, increased school enrolment and stronger hospital attendance in the project area.The loan is in tandem with the third National Development Plan 2020/21-2024/25 under Vision 2040. It is also consistent with AfDB’s 10-year Strategy 2013-22, Pillar I of ADF-15 strategic priorities, as well as two of the High-5s operational priorities: Feed Africa and Improve the Quality of Life for the People of Africa.Stakeholders speakThe Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) public relations manager, Allan Ssempebwa, said the procurement process for Kabale-Lake Bunyonyi and Kisoro-Mgahinga park roads had already been initiated.”This is good news and means a lot to Uganda in the drive to achieve socio-economic transformation, especially through facilitating the development of key infrastructure projects.”The Government partnered with AfDB to finance selected tourism roads such as Kabale-Lake Bunyonyi, Kisoro-Mgahinga to ease access to the gorillas and Namagumba-Budadiri road to provide access to the area where tourists are expected to start trekking to the highest point of Mt Elgon,” Ssempebwa said.The former chief executive officer of Uganda Tourism Board, now a consultant, Stephen Asiimwe, on Saturday said the intervention will increase tourism traffic.”Tourism is about referrals and you need comfort and accessibility. If you have bad infrastructure, the tourists will not return because of bad experience,” Asiimwe said.”We should also fix our roads, airfields, drainage, bridges, information technology — the critical infrastructure. Someone flying for 12 hours to Entebbe airport and they encounter a bad road is not fair for them as tourists,” he said.Herbert Byaruhanga, the director of Bird Uganda Safaris Limited, said the fund is timely and will translate into large scale benefits.”Western Uganda is a tourism hub and this will boost business and income for the community.Amos Wekesa, the proprietor of Great Lakes Safaris Limited, said it would be better to conduct an effective showcase of what the country can offer rather than incurring a strenuous debt.”We have fairly good roads, but we need money invested in marketing the country. We need to market tourism and agriculture. The Government does not seem to understand this. We need to stop borrowing,” Wekesa said.”If we marketed our tourism, agricultural products would attract business. If we have first-class roads and no business, it does not make sense,” he added.
