Standard Chartered Bank is interested in financing Uganda’s planned Standard Gauge Railway (SGR), a statement from President Yoweri Museveni’s office said, after the project failed to secure credit from China.
Sanjay Rughani, chief executive officer the bank’s Ugandan unit, told Museveni the lender was interested in the project, according to the statement, which was issued late on Thursday.
Rughani was part of a delegation of Standard Chartered Bank officials that met Museveni and that included Faruq Muhammad, the bank’s global head of structured export finance, it added.
“We have submitted our interest to finance many other projects such as SGR,” the statement quoted Rughani as telling Museveni.
The 273 kilometre (170 mile) railway is expected to drastically cut the cost of shipping goods for landlocked Uganda by connecting to neighbouring Kenya’s own SGR which runs to the Indian Ocean seaport of Mombasa.
In 2015, Uganda entered into an agreement with Chinese firm China Harbour and Engineering Company Ltd (CHEC) to implement the project on condition the firm helps secure funds for the railway from the Chinese government.
After years of fruitless talks, Uganda last year terminated the agreement and is currently holding talks with Turkey’s Yapi Merkezi to undertake the project.