Ugandans are celebrating the commissioning of a new cable stay bridge over the river Nile in the Eastern town of Jinja, described by president Yoweri Museveni as ‘spectacular’, after he toured it by night.

The Source of the Nile Bridge, commissioned on Wednesday, is expected to enhance economic and regional integration with neighbouring countries like Kenya, provide safer travel and enhance tourism.

Described as an architectural and engineering marvel, the new bridge constructed over four years, at a cost of Uganda Shillings 313 billion ($82m), has the following features;

• 72 harp-like white cables connecting the bridge deck to two 69-metre tall inverted-Y pylon towers
• Lightning arrestors, which run from the deck to each tip of the inverted-Y pylon towers
• There are 202 Light-Emitting Diodes (LED) bulbs at the base of the cables, but with the meridian of the deck, that light up the 72 stay cables
• The 525m-long bridge has a central span of 290m, end spans of 135m and 100m on the east and west banks respectively
• It has a dual carriageway 7.0m wide with a pedestrian walk way of 2.25m wide on both ends

“We did best quality assurance and rigorous quality control and tested the construction materials with state-of-the-art equipment, both within and abroad in Singapore and Japan,’‘ said Eng Lawrence Pario, the contractor manager of the bridge whose construction was financed by the Japanese government.

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Ugandans officially embrace the #SourceofTheNileBridge .First walk!First run! To miles of smiles. pic.twitter.com/p9AsOQBxpr

— UNRA_UGANDA (@UNRA_UG) October 17, 2018

#SourceoftheNileBridge as seen from above.
Uganda newest baby.
Pic #PPUUNRA_UG pic.twitter.com/yrtRF4o6WP

— Sarah Kyobe N. (kyobesarah) October 17, 2018

Black ? Yellow ? Red ❤ = ??
Stunning sights of the new #SourceOfTheNileBridge pic.twitter.com/LOvl8CQ5qU

— Uganda Media Centre (@UgandaMediaCent) October 17, 2018