Uganda appoints Citibank to mobilise funds for 2.7 billion euro railway project
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Uganda said on Thursday it had appointed Citibank to mobilise financing needed to fund the country's planned 2.7 billion euro Standard Gauge Railway project.
In a post on X, the finance ministry said Uganda is in talks with the World Bank to support the project.
Earlier this month, the Washington-based lender confirmed it was considering an array of potential financing options for the project.
A Ugandan delegation in Washington for the IMF and World Bank Spring Meetings met Citibank officials led by Richard Hodder, the managing director and global head of export and agency finance, to discuss progress in mobilising the required financing for the railway.
After a prolonged delay caused by unsuccessful efforts to secure financing from Beijing, Uganda in 2024 handed the project to Turkish construction firm Yapi Merkezi.
Initial preparatory works have begun with some financing from the government, but full-scale construction has yet to start, pending the availability of funding.
The 272-kilometre rail line will run from the capital Kampala to Malaba at the border with Kenya, connecting landlocked Uganda to Kenya's rail network and onward to the Indian Ocean port of Mombasa.
