The road Sonatube-Giporoso. The new Kigali Bugesera airport will start here. Photo Plaisir Muzogeye
Rwanda has finished demarcation for of a 14km Highway that will connect Kigali to Bugesera International Airport, State Minister for Transport, Eng. Jean de Dieu Uwihanganye confirmed to KT Press on Tuesday.
The new highway which will cost $54 million upon completion will be built in partnership with People’s Republic of China.
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Rwanda on July 22-23 will include the signing of a deal for construction of the road.
“The funding agreement to construct the road that will connect to Bugesera airport will be signed during Chinese President’s visit to Rwanda,” he said.
The 4-lane road will be completed in December 2019, when the ongoing $418 million first phase of the airport will be ready, according to Minister Uwihanganye.
The new road will start from the newly upgraded Sonatubes main round-about in Kicukiro district, and will connect through Nyabarongo Bridge between Gahanga and Nyamata sectors all the way to Bugesera Airport in Eastern Province.
The Sonatube roundabout where Kigali-Bugesera airport will start
Speaking to KT Press, Fabrice Barisanga – head of planning and research at Rwanda Transport Development Agency (RTDA) said that some parts of Sonatube-Kicukiro road will be upgraded.
“Part of the road from Sonatubes to Kicukiro Centre-Nyabarongo Bridge will be upgraded to three lanes while the part from the Bridge to Bugesera Airport will have four lanes,” Barisanga toldKT Press.
Meanwhile, from Nyabarongo Bridge to Bugesera airport, the four lanes will not be part of the existing two lanes.
The road will be diverted to be to separate from the existing one.
Expropriation works are underway which will affect businesses and buildings along the Bugesera road.
“The upgrade will include expropriation works. As you may have seen, some buildings on the Sonatubes-Kicukiro road have been marked and are pending expropriation,” Barisanga told KT Press.
