The lives of people in several communities in rural Eswatini are about to see significant transformation when two road construction projects, funded by the African Development Bank and the Government of Eswatini, are completed.
The 80.2 km Siphofaneni-Sithobela-Maloma-Nsoko (MR14) and the 25.7 km Maloma-Siphambanweni (MR21) roads will cut transport costs and travel times by at least half, and improve connectivity, stimulate regional economic growth, and enhance community livelihoods.
The roads form Phase I of the $175.71 million Eswatini Road Infrastructure Improvement Programme financed 80 per cent by the African Development Bank ($140.6 million) and 20 per cent by the Government of Eswatini ($35.1 million).
Prime Minister Russell Dlamini launched the project in early July, marking the start of construction and highlighting its potential to transform some of the country's poorest and most underserved regions in the Lubombo and Shiselweni regions.
"We want the whole country to have tarred roads so that people can travel safely," Prime Minister Dlamini said at the flag-off ceremony. "This is what first-world infrastructure looks like: it creates jobs today, integrates national assets like the Mpakeni Dam for tomorrow, and positions Eswatini as an economic leader in the Southern African Development Community region for decades to come."
He described the project as the first phase of a broader national roads vision, urging the people of Eswatini to position themselves to benefit from the opportunities the new infrastructure will create.
The roads run through the Lubombo and Shiselweni regions, where youth and women's unemployment rates reach 54.3%. Poor road conditions have long driven up transport costs, limited market access, and constrained economic opportunity.
By linking the Lubombo and Shiselweni regions more closely to national and regional markets -- and to complementary investments such as the Mkhondvo-Ngwavuma Water Augmentation Programme -- the project will do more than just move traffic faster.
It will open a corridor for agricultural growth, private investment, and regional trade under the African Continental Free Trade Area, turning some of the country's most disadvantaged communities into engines of the national growth agenda.
A Road Built to Unlock a Region
In addition to the 106 km roadworks, 200 young people, including 80 girls, will receive training in construction skills. A further 50 of those will be trained in entrepreneurship. The project will also fund social infrastructure including micro-water systems, schools, clinics, and markets along the route.
The African Development Bank's Deputy Director General for Southern Africa, Moono Mupotola, outlined the Bank's commitment of a $1.03 billion investment programme to support Eswatini's economic transformation over the next five years. This is under the Bank's 2025-2030 Country Strategy Paper, reaffirming the institution's status as the country's largest development partner.
She said the strategy rests on two pillars: building climate-resilient infrastructure to lower the cost of doing business in transport, energy, water, and sanitation; and strengthening private-sector competitiveness to create jobs and diversify the economy -- priorities which, she said, align closely with the government's own vision for a more resilient and inclusive economy.
Mupotola pointed to more than five decades of partnership dating back to 1972, during which the Bank has approved 71 loans and grants across agriculture, transport, energy, water, governance, and finance.
The Bank's active Eswatini portfolio has more than doubled in five years, growing from $226.7 million to $527 million across 10 operations -- spanning investment projects, technical assistance, budget support, and private-sector financing.
The Bank's Deputy Director General also highlighted parallel Bank-backed initiatives, including the Manzini Region Water Supply and Sanitation Project, and the Mkhondvo-Ngwavuma Water Augmentation Programme, both aimed at strengthening water security and climate resilience, alongside budget support operations such as the Enhancing Economic Resilience and Competitiveness Programme.
The Eswatini Road Infrastructure Improvement Programme includes an axle load control programme and a new weighbridge. It will also develop a pipeline of Public-Private Partnership and Output-based Performance Road Contract projects to strengthen local contractor capacity and long-term road sustainability -- directly reinforcing the Prime Minister's local-content agenda.
The Roads Department within the Ministry of Public Works and Transport is implementing the project over 36 months.
