Uganda awards Karuma Bridge deal to Japanese contractor

Uganda has awarded the contract to build the new Karuma Bridge, a project valued at about $150m (550bn shillings), to Japan’s Zenitaka Corporation, sealing one of the country’s biggest infrastructure deals this year.

The civil works contract was signed on Friday at the Keio Plaza Hotel in Tokyo by Eng Isaac Wani, commissioner for national roads at the Ministry of Works and Transport, and Zenitaka’s Osamu Tanabe, after the firm emerged as the most responsive bidder for the works.

The project is financed by the Japanese government through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica), which committed about 4.9bn yen (121bn shillings) in grant funding under an agreement signed in March last year to support the initial phases of construction.

Ground is due to be broken in September, with civil works starting in October 2026.

For Zenitaka, the deal marks a second major Nile crossing in Uganda. The firm was one of the contractors behind the 525m cable-stayed Source of the Nile Bridge in Jinja, commissioned in 2018, and the new Karuma structure is expected to take a similar form. The company and project consultants Oriental Consultants Global pledged to deliver the bridge to the highest engineering standards and within the agreed timeline.

The new crossing will be a 240m elevated cable-stayed bridge built about 12m higher than the existing structure on the Kampala–Gulu highway, which dates from 1963.

The economic case for the replacement has grown urgent. The old bridge — a narrow, single-carriageway crossing with sharp curves — has been closed repeatedly in recent years for emergency repairs, disrupting the flow of goods and people along one of East Africa’s key trade corridors linking central Uganda to the north, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Speaking at the signing, Eng Wani said the new bridge would restore safe and efficient movement along the corridor, strengthen regional connectivity and support trade and investment. He thanked Japan and Jica for their continued support through the Official Development Assistance grant aid programme and pledged government backing to ensure timely delivery.

Uganda’s ambassador to Japan, Tophace Kaahwa, said the funding demonstrated the strength of relations between the two countries and called for the partnership to be deepened. The ceremony was witnessed by the solicitor general, Pius Perry Biribonwoha, with the Ugandan embassy in Tokyo coordinating the engagements.

The Karuma crossing, about 257km north of Kampala, is a critical gateway for regional commerce, and the government expects the new bridge to cut travel delays, improve safety and boost trade with Uganda’s northern neighbours.