Mbarara City is a city in the Western Region of Uganda. It is the main municipal, administrative, and commercial centre of Mbarara District and the site of the district headquarters.
In 2002, the national census estimated the population of the town at 69,400. The Uganda Bureau of Statistics estimated the population at 82,000 in 2010. In 2011, UBOS estimated the mid-year population at 83,700. In August 2014, the national population census put the population at 195,013.
History
MBARARA GENESIS Early Travellers in Ankole and the Founding of Mbarara by an African, Asian and European Initiative. by David Weekes, describes its founding in 1899 on an old royal site which had been abandoned.
Growth and expansion
Mbarara came from behind and developed to surpass Entebbe, Masaka, Gulu, and Jinja. As of 2014, Mbarara was the second-largest city in Uganda after Kampala and also second to Kampala in importance, industry, and infrastructure. Starting with 2000, modern buildings have been established including malls, arcades, plaza, and hotels. Modern hospitals have also been constructed including Mbarara Hospital, which is now a Regional Referral Hospital, Mbarara Community Hospital, a private hospital located in Kyamugorani, Kakiika Division, and Mayanja Memorial Hospital, located in Nyamityobora Kakoba Division.
City Status
In May 2019, the Uganda's cabinet granted Mbarara city status, which started on 1 July 2020.
Infrastructure
Mbarara is the home of Mbarara University of Science & Technology, founded in 1989. With significance for all Ugandan cities, Mbarara was the host to the 2004 Annual General Meeting of the Uganda Local Governments Association on 1 October, which saw the changing of the organisation to its current structure in order to represent all Ugandan local governments. Mbarara remains an active member of this governmental association.
Water supply
Due to a rapidly expanding population, the current water supply from nearby River Rwizi is insufficient to meet the future needs of Mbarara City. The Ugandan government has borrowed €120 million to source water from the Kagera River purify it and pump it to Mbarara, Masaka and Isingiro District.
Mbarara Bypass Road
As part of the modernisation of the Mbarara-Katuna Road, a new northern bypass road is planned for the town. The bypass will start from the Coca-Cola Plant on Mbarara-Masaka Road at Makenke, pass through Rwebishuri and Nkokonjeru and join the Mbarara-Kabale Road at Katatumba Resort, about southwest of the central business district. The bypass is expected to decongest the city centre by taking the long-distance trucks destined for and coming from Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo off of Mbarara's city streets. The road is expected to cost about €170 million, of which the European Union is expected to lend about €122 million with the government funding the balance from its own resources.
Points of interest
The following additional points of interest lie within the city limits or close to its edges:
Ntare School - A boys-only, boarding middle and high school
Mbarara High School - An Anglican-Church of Uganda-based residential boys-only middle and high school located at Ruharo Cathedral and is a government aided school
Maryhill High School-A girls-only,boarding middle and high school founded by the Daughters of Mary and government aided
Transport
Mbarara Airport - A public airport, located about, by road northwest of town, along Mbarara-Ibanda highway.
- A bypass road, currently under construction, circling the northern half of the city.
Others
Ray G- One of the music exports from Western Uganda, who sings in Runyankole.
Orumuri-The local newspaper that publishes in local native language, Runyankole
100.2 Fm Radio West-the first then private radio station to start in Mbarara.
Ankole kingdom, the former country which its capital was Mbarara
