Primary Hong Kong news media Sing Tao News Group recently reported that, due to dissatisfaction with China’s reluctance to finance the project, the Ugandan government has terminated its contract with a Chinese company to build a railway in the local area. Uganda is seeking a Turkish company to take over. Ugandan officials in charge of coordinating the project confirmed the news. According to the contract, one of the conditions is that China is obliged to assist Uganda in obtaining financing for the project, but this has not happened. The Ugandan authorities sent a letter to China Harbor Engineering (HEC) to terminate the contract in December 2022. HEC has not raised any objections so far. This 273-kilometer railway connects Uganda’s capital, Kampala, and the border with Kenya. In order to connect with the international standard-gauge railway leading to Mombasa, Kenya’s Indian Ocean port, the new railway construction plan also adopts the international standard gauge. The entire project is estimated to cost US$2.2 billion. The Chinese spokesperson of the Foreign Affairs Ministry said China and Uganda have established a comprehensive cooperative partnership and that the pragmatic cooperation between the two countries is at the forefront of China-Africa cooperation.
Source: Sing Tao, January 14, 2023
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