• Uganda seeks World Bank support for $3 billion railway project
• Funding aims to revive delayed Kampala–Malaba standard gauge line
• Project expected to cut transport costs and boost regional trade

Uganda is seeking World Bank financing for its 273-kilometer standard gauge railway (SGR) between Kampala and Malaba. The World Bank is considering backing the project following a meeting this week between President Yoweri Museveni and a World Bank delegation led by Qimiao Fan, Country Director for Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia and Uganda.

The World Bank "plans to support the development of the standard gauge railway both through financing and through support in structuring sustainable financing mechanisms for the project," Museveni said.

The announcement is a boost for the project, valued at $3 billion, which has long been delayed by funding constraints. In 2015, Kampala awarded the construction contract, then valued at $2.2 billion, to China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC), subject to securing financing from the Chinese government. As financing efforts stalled, the contract was ultimately canceled in January 2023.

A groundbreaking ceremony followed in November 2024 after the signing of an agreement with Turkish group Yapi Merkezi, despite financing not being fully secured. The planned funding structure called for 85% in international loans and 15% in public funds. In May 2025, Ugandan authorities said they were considering allocating 2.1 trillion shillings, approximately $561 million, to the project under the 2025/2026 budget cycle.

The talks with the World Bank come shortly after construction began on the Kenyan section of the SGR, between Naivasha and Malaba, which had also been delayed since 2019 for similar reasons. The railway is designed to facilitate regional trade and forms part of the Northern Corridor, a multimodal network linking the port of Mombasa to landlocked Great Lakes countries, including Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan.

Currently, more than 90% of Uganda's freight is transported by road, generating high logistics costs and accelerating infrastructure deterioration. Once the SGR is operational, transit times for goods between Mombasa and Kampala could fall from five days to under 24 hours, with significantly lower costs. Shipping a 20-foot container from Mombasa to Kampala by train will cost 50% less than by road, Museveni said, adding that "roads should primarily be reserved for passengers, while freight should be transported by rail."

Henoc Dossa