Bukasa Inland Port


Bukasa Inland Port is a planned inland port in Uganda.

Location

The port would be located along the northern shores of Lake Victoria, on approximately in the neighborhood of Bukasa in Wakiso District, approximately, by road, south-east of the central business district of Kampala, the capital and largest city of Uganda. When fully functional, the port is expected to occupy a bigger land area. Efforts to secure more land are underway.
In February 2019, the Daily Monitor reported that the project area had been increased to.

Overview

When completed the inland port is designed to handle up to 5.2 million tonnes of freight annually. The port will facilitate movement of goods from the Tanzanian ports of Dar es Salaam and Tanga, via rail to the port of Mwanza on Lake Victoria. Barges would then bring the cargo over the lake to Bukasa. This would reduce Uganda's near-total dependence on the port of Mombasa, Kenya.

Funding

Two German financial institutions agreed to lend US$48 million towards the construction of this port. The Uganda government will contribute US$8.5 million to this project. The funding for the construction of the port is as depicted in the table below:
RankName of FunderDollars Funded Percentage Funding
1European Export and Trade Bank
24.0
42.48
2Commerzbank
24.0
42.48
3Government of Uganda
8.5
15.04
Total
56.5
100.00

Totals may be off slightly, due to rounding.

Construction

, GAUF Engineering Company, a German firm that is performing the consultancy work for the construction of the port, is finalizing the master design of the development. In July 2018, dredging of the swamps is expected to commence. Physical construction of the administration unit and the shipping facilities called Roll-on/Roll-off is expected to commence in June 2019, and last until April 2022. More development and expansion will continue until 2030. Construction of the initial phase is expected to last three years.
In February 2019, the National Environment Management Authority of Uganda, approved the construction of this inland port. Construction will be phased.
; Phase I
The first phase will involve construction of the port, administration jetty, free trade zone, shunting yard, a two-berth multipurpose terminal and a two berth Roro terminal.
; Phase II
The second phase, expected to be complete by 2030, will extend the multipurpose terminal by additional two berths to a total quay length of.
; Phase III
The third phase, to be completed by 2040, will extend the quay length of the multipurpose terminal to. All three phases will require the dredging Lake Victoria.