Mbarara Bypass ideal for hotels, commercial houses

Not until two years ago, the right part of the land along Mbarara Bypass was undeveloped and mostly had farms. It was the left side, next to Mbarara Town central business area that was developed. The central business area includes Nkokonjeru, Ruharo and Nyamityobora.

In 2015, government constructed a 14 kilometre Mbarara Bypasss to decongest the central business part of Mbarara Town. The Bypass starts from the Coca-Cola plant in Makenke, Kakiika Division as you get to Mbarara Town on Masaka –Mbarara road, continues northwards to Rwebishuri before reaching Nkokonjeru, Ruharo hill, Ruti and then finally connects to Mbarara-Kabale Road.

The left side is more developed today. While the right has started developing it still has huge chunks of undeveloped land. However, when you visit the area now compared to five years ago, there is noticeable change, with a number of residential, commercial houses and hotels coming up. One of the big hotels is Hotel Triangle, which officially opened this year.
The area also has restaurants.

Why its ideal for hotel and commercial housing
The traffic along this road has tremendously increased as motorists try to dodge the rather busy business centre of Mbarara Town. Off Mbarara-Kabale Road to the Bypass by car, it takes 10 minutes and off Mbarara –Bushenyi road just five minutes but going to Mbarara Town you can take close to 20 minutes.
With the mud rush for residential houses and heavy traffic, this makes it ideal place for hotel and commercial business.
This area is close to the Mbarara central business area. From the nearest to the furthest point, a boda boda ride costs between Shs2,000 and Shs3,000.

Roads
From Mbarara Town, they are several roads that connect to this area; there is Mbarara Town –Kakiika-Nkokonjeru Road, then Mbarara Town – Kyamugorani Road, Mbarara –Bushenyi Road. They are small murrum tracks that can lead you to Mbarara Bypass.
There are several murram roads being constructed on the left side of the Bypass, especially by land owners for easy access of their land to attract market.

Cost of land
The cost of land varies according to location. In areas where there is some development, the land becomes very expensive. For example, a 100x100ft plot of land in the area between Coca cola plant and Nkokonjeru costs Shs50m. Wilbert Muhwezi, a land dealer in Mbarara Town, says before the Bypass was constructed, 100x100ft plot of land here was Shs12m but the prices skyrocketed after the construction of the road.
Around Kyamugorani, and Ruharo, 100x100ft plots also cost between Shs45m to 50m. This area has electricity and water connections.
Areas that are not developed (the right side of the Bypass), a plot (100x100ft) costs between Shs30 and Shs40m. There are also areas that still have vast land and here an acre goes for Shs200m.

Schools
There are several primary and secondary schools and easy access to top schools in Mbarara so if you invested in residential housing here, school for the children would not be a problem.

Social activities
For churchgoers on either part of the Bypass, it takes less than 30 minutes to get to the closest church. There are also several other churches and mosques in the area.
If you want hotel services, there are more than three hotels in this area. The area also has government facilities such as Makenke Barracks, also home to 2nd division UPDF headquarters, Kyamugorani government prisons and Mbarara Stock Farm.

Security
Security around the area is relatively good, especially because of the government facilities, prisons, the barracks but there are also two police posts in Ruharo and Nkokonjeru. Rwizi region police spokesperson Samson Kasasira, says the police have kept regular night patrols along this stretch for criminals not to take advantage of the growing development cause havoc. He says they are also putting up another police post a few metres away as you get to this Bypass.