Uganda cancels $2.2bn SGR contract with Chinese firm, signs with Turkish company

A cargo train at the Naivasha Inland Container Depot in Kenya.

A cargo train at the Naivasha Inland Container Depot in Kenya.  FILE PHOTO | NMG

After eight years of non-execution, the Uganda government has terminated the contract of China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) to build the country’s first phase of standard gauge railway (SGR), a 273km line from Malaba to Kampala, The EastAfrican has learnt.

The line, starting from the Malaba border post between Uganda and Kenya, was expected to cost $2.2 billion, but the Chinese financiers did not fund the project after casting doubt on Kenya’s SGR reaching the border to link with Uganda’s and making the project viable.