KAMPALA: The government of Uganda has signed an agreement with a business association from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to build a new international airport in Karamoja -President Yoweri Museveni’s office said.
The memorandum of understanding signed at State House on Friday, UAE’s Sharjah Chamber of Commerce and Industry will build the airport just outside the Kidepo National Park in the northeast near Uganda’s border with Kenya.
“I witnessed the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between Uganda and the Sharjah Chamber of Commerce led by their Chairman, H.E Abdallah Sultan Al Owais for the construction of Kidepo International Airport in Karamoja.” A post on president Museveni’s X account reads.
Abdallah Sultan Al Owais, chairman of the Sharjah business body said the airport construction will start in August this year but did not mention the costs involved. Works and Transport minister Gen. Katamba Wamala signed on behalf of the Uganda government.
The new airport will be the third for the East African country and will boost tourism by drawing visitors to the 1,442-sq-km (557-sq-mile) Kidepo park known for lions, giraffes, buffaloes and other big game.
The agreement was “a sign of the deepening relations with our Gulf partners and another opportunity to co-operate in investment and trade”, Museveni, who witnessed the signing, said in a post on X.