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President Museveni has given approval for the upgrade of Arua Aerodrome to an international airport, stating its strategic location near South Sudan and the DRC would boost business. He expressed support during a meeting with East of Eden (U) Ltd, the company behind the project.

President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni yesterday 25^th October 2023 gave a green light to the upgrade of Arua Aerodrome to an international airport. ” I support your project, go ahead,” the President said.

President Museveni affirmed his support to the redevelopment of Arua Aerodrome yesterday while meeting a team from East of Eden (U) Ltd at State House Entebbe.

East of Eden is the company that wants to upgrade the West Nile-based aerodrome. The President explained that Arua is strategically located since it borders South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo and the presence of an upgraded Airport will boost business in the area.

“You are in the right place at the right time because there are a lot of goldmines in Congo and even in South Sudan to some extent but because of instability, people there always use Arua as a safe haven where they can come. You will get a lot of traffic there. It will also help people who are moving internally from here to Arua,” he assured the investors.

“It will be a good place especially because of the interstate movement of South Sudan, Congo, Central African Republic and Chad.”

The Chairperson of East of Eden, Ms. Sandra Zawedde informed the President that they will use the sustainable construction technology to work on the project.

” Our system was tested and approved by the Ministry of Works and Transport,” Ms. Zawedde said.

She also assured President Museveni that her firm, in support of some partners, has the capacity and financial muscle to undertake the multi-billion project.

“We want to upgrade Arua Aerodrome from Class 3C to 4E. We will redesign, build and operate it. We will pay ourselves when the project kicks-off operations, then after 25 years we shall fully transfer the project to the government,” Ms. Zawedde further told the President.

She also revealed that her company already has projects in West Nile including one with farmers regarding affordable housing.

” We want to build housing units for farmers in the sub-region. Our payment plan is flexible and we have already negotiated with the Housing Finance Bank for farmers to pay in a friendly way at a low interest rate.”

The meeting was also attended by officials from the Ministry of Works and Transport.