UGANDA: The Islamic Development Bank has signed a US$800m financing agreement to support the Standard Gauge Railway and other priority projects.
The three-year facility includes US$500m from the IsDB, with Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector and the International Islamic Trade Finance Corp each allocating US$150m. The amount allocated to the railway project was not specified.
The Ministry of Finance’s Permanent Secretary Ramathan Ggoobi and IsDB Vice-President Dr Rami Ahmed signed the agreement on the sidelines of the 50th annual meetings of the IsDB Group in Alger on May 21. The ministry said the first strategic pillar under the country engagement framework agreement is to support climate resilient transport and energy infrastructure development.
In March the government provided contractor Yapı Merkezi with US$83m to begin construction of the 272 km Eastern Line from the capital Kampala to Malaba on the Kenyan border, aiming to prevent delays that have hindered the country’s SGR development compared to Kenya and Tanzania.
The US$2·9bn project is also expected to receive financing from Turkish, UK and Chinese export credit agencies, with loans being arranged by Citibank.
