Uganda’s president, Yoweri Museveni, has agreed to the signing of the final financial deal for the Kisumu-Malaba-Kampala part of the Standard Gauge Railway. Uganda delayed the signing of the financing agreement for the SGR for over two years. It was revealed that the final financing agreement will be signed by September 2018, after a meeting with the president of Kenya, Uhuru Kenyatta and the Chinese officials.
President Yoweri Museveni also requested for a joint mission with Kenya to Beijing to meet China’s Export and Import, EXIM bank officials to expedite the financial closure for the two countries’ multi billion-dollar projects.
Over one million passengers have used the SGR line in Kenya in one year and more than 800,000 tonnes of cargo have been transported since the cargo segment of the railway was launched in January.
The construction of the railway line in Malaba will promote Uganda’s and Kenya’s GDP growth to at least a 1.5% increase, drastically reducing the number of heavy trucks on roads, a fast, efficient and reliable mode of transportation along with many other benefits from the construction of the Naivasha-Kisumu-Malaba Standard Gauge Railway.
