The government of Uganda has signed a US$2.95 billion deal with a Turkish company – Yapi Merkezi to construct a 272-kilometer section of the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) on Monday.
- The SGR will stretch from Kenya’s Malaba border post to Kampala, Uganda to join Kenya’s rail network headed to the Mombasa Port.
- The new infrastructure is designed to provide faster and more efficient cargo transport than the existing meter-gauge railway system.
- The project is part of the bigger plan for a 1,700 kilometer electric rail seeking to improve trade connections while cutting down on transportation costs.
“We are pushing to improve the structure of the economy. The SGR is one of those projects that feed into this agenda,” Uganda’s Minister of Works and Transport, Edward Wamala said.
“Our Kenyan neighbors are also working on making the connection from Naivasha-Kisumu-Malaba. We are confident that the timeliness agreed on with our Kenyan borders will be met regarding the Naivasha-Malaba connection,” he added.
The infrastructure project, whose estimated cost is US$3 billion, is expected to join Naivasha in Kenya linking to the Mombasa port with a design speed of 120km/h.
The Turkish deal comes after almost 9 years of delays from the original agreement chalked up by the China Harbour and Engineering Company subject to funding by the Chinese government. Uganda later revoked the agreement in 2023 following unproductive negotiations over the years.
The project is expected to be completed within 4 years from the commencement date – November, connecting the landlocked country to the Indian Ocean Port in Mombasa, Kenya.
During the signing ceremony, Uganda said it will use its own development fund and external loans which the country had initially planned in the budget – about US$600 million in external loans for the project.
Kenya had its first section of the SGR completed in the hind quarter of 2017, paving way for freight and passenger rail, connecting Nairobi to Mombasa.
In 2013, Kenya, Uganda, South Sudan, Tanzania and Rwanda signed an agreement to construct the SGR in a bid to boost trade in the region. Ten years later, only Kenya and Tanzania have made steps in the pact.
