The Ugandan Government is planning to float a $1bn public private partnership (PPP) tender for a new road that will connect the capital city of Kampala with industrial hub Jinja.

According to the Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) spokesperson Dan Alinange, the government has hired the World Bank’s International Finance (IFC) as advisor to help in the tender process.

Alinange told Reuters: "Early next year, the project will be advertised. It is a massive project because we are looking to raise between $800m to $1bn."

"We are aware there is enormous appetite for this sort of project and that’s what gave us confidence to structure Jinja-Kampala as a PPP."

The six-lane, 77km Kampala-Jinja road will be the first PPP road project in Uganda and the second toll road in the country after the $470m Kampala-Entebbe road that is currently under construction.

According to Alinange, the Kampala-Jinja road project will improve the flow of cargo and other motor traffic on the Ugandan section of the Northern Corridor, which is east Africa’s primary trade route for shipping both imports and exports of crude oil that is expected to be pumped out in 2017 from oil fields in the Albertine rift basin.

Alinange added: "We want to reduce congestion on this corridor for Uganda.

"We are aware there is enormous appetite for this sort of project and that’s what gave us confidence to structure Jinja-Kampala as a PPP."