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A $309 million airport project in Kabale Sub-County, Uganda, began in April 2018 through a joint venture between SBC Uganda Ltd and SBI International Holdings. Initially planned to open in 2022, the runway is now 98% complete, with plans for a control tower. The anticipated first cargo aircraft landing is set for December 2023.

The civil works for the massive $309 million project in Kabale Sub-County, started on April 18, 2018, by SBC Uganda Ltd in a joint venture with SBI International Holdings.

The airport was supposed to open in 2022, but according to Amos Muriisa of SBC Uganda’s public relations department, work on the runway is already 98% finished.

According to Muriisa, plans for a control tower are in the works as pertinent authorities talk about money and time extension difficulties.

Muriisa affirmed that they anticipate having the first cargo aircraft land at the airport in December 2023 during a guided tour of the facility for members of the Inter-Religious Council of Uganda (IRCU) organized by the Petroleum Authority of Uganda.

“We plan to have a control tower before we hand it over. Discussions are still underway but December this year, we are going to test the airport because you can see the runway is 98% complete,” Muriisa said. 

Muriisa has assured Ugandans that they have done quality work. 

The facility is being built, according to Peter Muriisa, head legal and corporate affairs of Uganda National Oil Company (UNOC), to enable the transportation of goods needed for the region’s oil industry as well as tourism.

“The government invested a significant amount—roughly 350 million dollars—to get this done. The goal is to use it to grow this nation by bringing in equipment, exporting our produce, bringing tourists, and who knows, maybe we’ll even get some regional airstrips, according to Peter Muriisa.

Sheikh Shaban Mubaje, a member of the IRCU team, praised the administration for the infrastructural improvements made.

Mubaje noted that he hopes it will transform the lives of their congregations and start making bumper offerings instead of bringing sugarcanes to church. 

“According to what we are seeing, there is a future for Uganda. As religious leaders, we are hopeful that our people instead of bringing offertories in the form of eggs and sugarcane and clusters of bananas in churches or mosques, they will develop and one will say I am bringing one hundred bags of cement because of the prosperity which we anticipate soon,” Mubaje said. 

The airport has a 3.5 km long, 45 m wide runway with 15 m on either side shoulders.

Four of the largest cargo planes will be able to land on the airport apron, which has two turn pads on either side.

The IRCU members also went to the environmental service area in Nyamasoga Village, Kabaale Sub-County, Hoima District, where they are managing garbage from oil drilling locations and doing civil work for Pump Station 1 of the East African Crude Oil Pipeline.