Uganda requests China to finance South Sudan railways project
Oct 24, 2006 (KAMPALA) — Uganda has invited China to finance the construction of a railways project to link southern Sudan, after failure to assure necessary fund for its realization, a Ugandan minister said.
“As government, we are confident this project will take off immediately the Chinese government accepts to help us. Once the project is complete the trade barriers between Uganda and Sudan will be removed to help people do business,” Nasasira said.
Nasasira said the proposed railway link would connect the existing network between the two states and would provide a solution to cargo that is expected to move through the trans-Africa link between Cairo, Khartoum and Kampala.
A joint railway project, however, was agreed upon in a recent meeting held in Khartoum after the two countries failed to meet the undisclosed cost to handle the project. The proposal would be immediately presented to the Chinese government for technical and financial support to help the project kick-off.
Nasasira told Ugandan Daily Monitor that further consultations are going to be made with the government of southern Sudan to prepare another joint proposal for the development of road networks that connect the two states.
The Chinese proposal comes barely six months, after the Chinese Prime Minister, Wen Jiabao’s visit to Uganda to discuss areas of economic integration and investment.
The Uganda-Southern Sudan railway project is an immediate follow-up to another proposed line linking Uganda with Dar-e-Salaam Port in Tanzania.
(Daily Monitor)