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KAMPALA - The Government has finally identified a new contractor to construct the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR). (Photo by Nicholas Oneal)

The previous Chinese contractor didn't stick to the contract, which caused the anticipated $2 billion project to be delayed for years.

Works ministry director of transport Benon Kajura says the Government has identified a new potential contractor: Yapi Merkezi, a Turkish Engineering Company, and hopes to begin the project in the 2023/2024 financial year.

He made the revelation while speaking to journalists at the SGR Cluster Joint Technical Meeting at the Mestil Hotel in Nsambya, Kampala on Thursday.

Technocrats from South Sudan, Kenya and Rwanda also attended the meeting.

The government signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the new contractor on November 8, 2022, to develop the 273km Malaba-Kampala SGR route, and construction is likely to start at any time, according to Can. Eng. Perez Wamburu, the SGR project co-ordinator for the works ministry.

The Kampala-Kasese line and later Tororo-Gulu-Nimule and Gulu Pakwach will follow in phases, as per funding.

This time around, the Government is engaging financiers from Europe.

The SGR is anticipated to lower the cost of moving cargo within the region from Mombasa.

In the next 20 years, Uganda is expected to import more than 20 million tonnes of cargo from Mombasa, which, according to Wamburu, cannot be transported on the existing road and railway infrastructure.

In order to switch bulk freight between the two modes, the Government has been working to modernise both water and rail transportation along the northern corridor route.

Uganda has relied significantly on road transportation for the movement of freight, which analysts say is highly costly for the business community.

According to Wamburu, the Government is also working to revitalise the Uganda Railway Corporation (URC), which will be in charge of managing the two lines.