President Yoweri Museveni has directed Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja to coordinate with Base Seven Company to implement a mega transport project centred on the Government Aerodrome at Nyakisharara in Mbarara, including the construction of a modern international airport.
In a letter dated February 11, 2026 from State House, the President instructed the Prime Minister to mobilise all relevant government departments to support the project, which he described as a strategic intervention aimed at unlocking new global trade routes and accelerating regional development.
“I am writing to direct you and all the concerned Government departments, to help a Company known as ‘Base Seven Company’ to implement a mega transport project at and around the Government Aerodrome of Nyakisharara, near Mbarara,” Museveni wrote.
Using Nyakisharara as a nucleus, the President said the company intends to build a mega international airport that could reposition Uganda as a vital transit hub linking Latin America and China.
“Why such a big airport at the hitherto remote area of Uganda? It is all on account of the hitherto unknown factor of the way the Globe was arranged by God and the new phenomenon of the unfolding global affluence,” Museveni noted.
He argued that emerging trade and communication patterns between Latin America, especially Brazil, and China present a strategic opportunity for Uganda to offer a shorter and more economical route.
“These two zones of the Globe are now trading and communicating with one another. However, their route of communication is wholly irrational and uneconomic,” he stated. “It is South America, over the Atlantic, over Europe, Asia to China and back. It takes 34 to 42 hours. It takes 9 hours from South America to Nyakisharara and 11 hours from Nyakisharara to China.”
According to the letter, the project will be privately financed under a Build Operate and Transfer arrangement, with investors expected to recover their funds through airport user fees and associated facilities such as hotels to be constructed on site.
“The Company will use their own money to do the developments and recover that money by charging the users of the Airport and the accompanying facilities,” Museveni explained. “They will use the strategy of BOT, Build Operate and Transfer, to the Government after an agreed period.”
The President indicated that the financiers are Hunan and Black Rock, with the operator to be nominated by the financier. The project is expected to cover approximately 21 square kilometres of land and feature two runways measuring 5.5 kilometres each, as well as a 3.7 kilometre reserve runway for VIP use.
Museveni further revealed that the developers will utilise government land at the aerodrome and surrounding areas, in addition to land to be acquired from neighbouring property owners.
He also directed that the Ibanda-Mbarara public road be shifted east of Nyakisharara at the developers’ cost to pave way for the project.
“Finally, they will, at their cost, shift the Ibanda Mbarara Public road to a point to the East of Nyakisharara. Agree with them,” he wrote.
The President instructed that all relevant institutions, including the Ministries of Works and Transport, Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Finance, Planning and Economic Development, and the Attorney General’s chambers, be involved to expedite the process.
The directive follows Museveni’s earlier announcement of the planned airport bigger that Entebbe Airport during the Tarehe Sita celebrations held in Kabale, where he underscored the need for Uganda to strategically position itself within evolving global trade networks.
