Uganda and Turkey’s Yapi Merkezi signed a contract on Monday to build 272 kilometres standard gauge railway (SGR). The agreement was signed by Uganda’s Works Permanent Secretary, Bageya Waiswa, and Yapi Merkezi’s vice chairman, Erdem Arioglu. The Chinese had promised to invest about $2.2 billion, but Kampala terminated the contract early last year after eight years of non-delivery. In 2013, the leaders of Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, South Sudan and Rwanda broke ground on the construction of the SGR to connect the member states and boost trade in the region, which is home to more than 300 million people. So far, only Kenya and Tanzania have made significant progress with the construction lines in their respective countries.

Source: Daily Nation October 14, 2024 09:26 UTC