By Francis Lubega

11th May 2021

 

Members of Parliament have approved a loan request worth 1.39 Trillion Shillings for the refurbishment of the Kampala-Malaba Meter Gauge Railway Project.

 

Through the State Minister of Finance for Planning David Bahati, government last week backtracked on its earlier request to Parliament to borrow 1.29 trillion Shillings for the refurbishment of the Kampala-Malaba Meter Gauge Railway Project and presented a fresh loan request of 1.393 trillion Shillings.

The new loan request is in the excess of 101.05 Billion Shillings of the government’s initial request.

The approval in a plenary sitting Chaired by Speaker Rebecca Kadaga followed the approval of a report by the National Economy Committee presented by Nakaseke North MP Syda Bbumba.

The 250-kilometre Kampala-Malaba railway connects Kampala with Kenya at the Malaba border. Money for the project will be sourced from the African Development Fund- ADF which will provide 356.61 billion shillings, the African Development Bank- ADB (825.52 billion) and the Corporate Internationalization Fund of Spain (110.72 billion shillings).

Bbumba told parliament that the Kampala- Malaba project is part of the bigger proposed Meter Gauge Railway (MGR) project, which will entail rehabilitation of Kampala-Port Bell (8.3Km) and Kampala-Nalukolongo-Kyengera (12.3Km), purchase and rehabilitation of coaches, wagons and locomotives, creation of a railway training school to equip Uganda Railways Corporation (URC) Management and Staff with modern railway skills, and stock new spares for the workshop.

She says that if the Meter Gauge Railway Project (MGR) is implemented, the cost of transport by rail will improve from the current average of between US Dollars 0.09 – US Dollars 0.13 (per NTK-net tone kilometre) to US Dollars 0.05, hence reducing the cost of doing business.

However, during the debate, a section of MPs raised concern over the government’s move to borrow for an old railway, instead of the long-awaited Standard Gauge Railway project but David Bahati, the State Minister of Finance for Planning defended the loan saying it will produce wealth and create growth.

 


Tuesday 11th May 2021 08:26:55 PM