A clutch of European, Turkish and Chinese firms, in four consortiums, will battle it out for a major expressway scheme in Uganda that will see the winner build and operate the toll road for 30 years.
Strabag and Vinci are among the European firms set to challenge China’s dominance in African infrastructure with the project to build a 95-km highway from the capital Kampala east to the town of Jinja, on the shore of Lake Victoria.
The Uganda National Roads Authority announced the four shortlisted consortia, picked from an original field of eight, on 18 December via Twitter.Â
The joint ventures are:
- China Communications Construction Co./China First Highway Engineering Co.;
- KJ Connect (Portugal)/Vinci Concessions (France)/Mota-Engil (Portugal);
- Strabag (Austria)/IC Ictas (Turkey);
- CCKS, a joint venture of Chinese and South Korean firms.
Bloomberg reports that the scheme is expected to cost $1.4bn, of which the winning JV will have to raise $800m, with the remainder supplied by the African Development Bank, the French Development Agency and the European Union.
The expressway is part of the so-called Northern Corridor that links Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo to the Kenyan port of Mombasa, said Bloomberg.
Image used by Uganda National Roads Authority in announcing the bidders’ shortlist via Twitter on 18 December 2018
