Mbarara is on the path to attaining a city status. The town is Western Uganda’s capital and as thus, certain infrastructure connect to business centres such as DR Congo, Rwanda via Katuna, Tanzania via Isingiro has been developed.
This is the 14.5 kilometres Mbarara Northern by-pass. The road was developed and constructed to decongest the central business district of Mbarara Town, by providing an alternative route for large cargo trucks destined for Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, or the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The road cost about €170 million (US$210 million), of which the European Union is was expected to lend about €122 million (US$144 million), with the Uganda government funding the remaining amount €45 million (US$55 million).
In March 2015, the China Railway Seventh Group began construction and the road has been completed.
