Oil airport will spur development - Mueveni
Birds-eye view. An aerial view of the 5km runway at Kabaale Airport that is under construction. President Museveni has said the ongoing construction works at Kabaale International Airport in Hoima District will spur economic development in the Albertine Graben and the entire country. PPU PHOTO
What you need to know:
- While campaigning at Kabaale Primary School in Buseruka Sub-county, the President said he had sent his legal team to investigate the complaints and the findings indicated that Continental Tobacco Company had collapsed.
Hoima. President Museveni has said the ongoing construction works at Kabaale International Airport in Hoima District will spur economic development in the Albertine Graben and the entire country.
The President made the remarks yesterday as he travelled to Hoima to canvass votes for the NRM candidate in the Hoima District Woman MP by-election, Ms Harriet Businge.
He said the airport is a fruit of the ruling NRM party leadership.
“Today, I tasted the fruits of NRM efforts. I landed at Kabaale where a new airport is being constructed to international standards, with a 5km runway, then travelled to Kigorobya on a largely tarmacked road about 70kms,” the President twitted.
The Hoima Woman parliamentary seat fell vacant after the area Woman MP, Ms Tophas Kaahwa Byagira, chose to represent Kikuube District. Kikuube was carved out of Hoima District.
Currently, the construction works of the airport stands at 21 per cent with the work expected to be complete in 2022. Officials from SBC Uganda, the company that is constructing the airport, say work is progressing on well.
During the inauguration of the steering committee for the airport project in June, the Minister of Works and Transport, Ms Monica Azuba Ntege, said the $294m ( about 1.1 trillion) project is partly funded by the United Kingdom Export Finance and Standard Chartered Bank.
It will have an aircraft parking apron on a 81,500 square metre space with the capacity to park four large body aircrafts and a possibility of further expansion in future.
“At present, the construction work is ongoing including paving runways, carrying out of earthwork and drainage activities, pouring of cement and asphalt, and building of electro-mechanical systems,” she said.
Ms Ntege said the airport is developed with the aim of boosting the oil, agriculture and tourism industry in the Albertine Graben.
The construction works officially commenced on April 18, 2018 under SBC (U) Ltd. The airport is being developed in two phases.
The Hoima Woman MP by-election campaigns ended yesterday while the elections are scheduled for tomorrow.
TOBACCO ISSUE
Pledge. Meanwhile, President Museveni promised to compensate Tobacco farmers in Bunyoro Sub-region region who were reportedly cheated by tobacco firms.
While campaigning at Kabaale Primary School in Buseruka Sub-county, the President said he had sent his legal team to investigate the complaints and the findings indicated that Continental Tobacco Company had collapsed.
“Government will compensate you for your tobacco. I sent my lawyer who calculated about Shs26b (as compensation),” President Museveni said.
