16,129,032 US dollars grant from China Eximbank for a feasibility study of the Standard Gauge Railway (link to ID#60987, ID#37103, ID#31777, ID#47025, ID#66042, ID#52929, ID#52354)

Project narrative

In 2015, China Eximbank provided a $16,129,032 grant for a feasibility study of a 271-kilometer, Malaba-Kampala stretch of the Standard Gauge Railway that would connect Kampala with the Kenyan border at Malaba. If approved, China Harbour Engineering Co. Ltd (CHEC) would undertake the railroad construction project. The feasibility study was completed by a German firm called Gauff Consultants. The Ugandan Government then re-negotiated the contract price with CHEC (cutting the project cost by $26 million) and rescoped the project by adding another link from Kampala to the nearby Bukasa port on Lake Victoria as well as fencing for the entire railway route to protect it from vandalism. The Government of Uganda subsequently submitted a formal loan application for 85% of the revised project cost to China Eximbank in September 2019.