The government through the Ministry of Finance, Works and Transport Ministry, and Uganda Railways Corporation, URC is in the process of acquiring a fresh grant of loan worth US$300 million to redeem the Malaba-Kampala meter gauge railway.
The Ministries released statements indicating they are seeking low cost loans from the the African Development Fund and African Development Bank Group- AFDB.
According to the statement, the credit facility will include UA 125.16 million (about 169 million dollars) from the African Development Fund interest-free and 65 million euro from the African Development Bank Group, at 1 percent. The other UA-44.5 million (about 60 million dollars) will be in the form of a grant from the AfDB group.
The AfDB approved a loan worth 301 million dollars (about 1.1 trillion shillings) to fund the rehabilitation works for the Malaba-Kampala railway stretch in 2022. Repairs on the Metre Gauge Railway line at 95 complete, and will soon be handed over to the government. Chinese Railway and Bridge Cooperation (CRBC) was contracted to do the works.
According to the URC some amendments that needed to be done to the facility and approval from Parliament. Every adjustment to a facility, for example, realigning the facility amount to include a grant element, must go through parliament.
The Malaba-Kampala works entail the rehabilitation of 265 km of MGR tracks between Malaba and Mukono, as well as the line to Jinja Pier and Port Bell on Lake Victoria.
The URC is also working on is the Kampala-Namanve-Mukono stretch which started in April this year and is projected to end early next year over a total of 13 months.
John Lennon Ssengendo, head of communications says they are still hopeful that the works will be completed in time. He says he first two months involved clearing the right of way that had been encroached on by mainly small businesses, the removal of the old rails and sleepers, and clearing/grading the way.