M7 trying his best to extend SGR to Kampala. even mortgaging UG oil
You are being redirected....
Museveni hopes to seal SGR plans at China-Africa summit
The Independent September 1, 2018
Business,
News,
The News Today,
TOURISM Leave a comment
FILE PHOTO: President Museveni holds bilateral talks with Chinese President, H.E. Xi Jinping, on the sidelines of #BRICSSummit in South Africa earlier. They discussed trade, infrastructure, electricity generation and railway development. Jinping invited Museveni to attend the China-Africa Summit in September.
Entebbe, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | President Yoweri Museveni is optimistic he will return from his visit to China with a conclusive deal to build the Ugandan leg of the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR).
Museveni, who this weekend heads out to attend the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) on Sept. 3-4, told
Xinhua news agaency in a recent interview that he will be seeking China’s assistance in building the Standard Gauge Railway to link Uganda to the Kenyan seaport of Mombasa.
Kenya have progressed in constructing its section, with their SGR having reached Nairobi from Mombasa, and soon to Athi outside Nairobi. Thereafter Kenya will build a link to Malaba.
“We are likely to advance the project of the Standard Gauge Railway that is in the government-to-government (talks),” he told
Xinhua.
While all the preliminary work ahead of the SGR construction has been done, financing the project has been the final hurdle.
Experts say the SGR will reduce the cost of transport and spur economic development. The railway line is also expected to reach the border areas with Rwanda, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
It will shorten the trip between Mombasa and Kampala to only two days from the current 14 days. It is planned that a freight train will be able to carry up to 216 20-foot containers and travel at a speed of 100 km per hour, while a passenger train transporting up to 960 people at a speed of 120 km per hour.
In the interview ahead of the China-Africa Summit , Museveni hailed China for not interfering in internal issues of countries they partner with.
A diagram of China’s plan for the ‘New Silk Road’. CHINA STATE MEDIA
Museveni said China plays a positive role in global affairs, while noting, “It has helped Africa to get out of the blackmail of some of the Western countries, which wanted to treat African countries as if they are slave countries.”
The Ugandan president said Uganda and China share similar interests in international affairs.
Politically, “China does not believe in imperialism, we don’t believe in imperialism. We don’t believe in other countries interfering in the affairs of other countries,” he said.
“Maybe what you should concentrate on is economic cooperation. Even there, we have never had a problem only that at the beginning China was also still a developing country but now they have got much more capacity, they have helped us so much,” Museveni said.
Museveni said he also supports the China-proposed vision of building a community of a shared future for mankind.
“That is how it should have been in the beginning. Even from a selfish point of view, it is good that I am rich but you are also rich. Because when you are rich and I am also rich, I can buy from you and you can buy more from me,” Museveni said.
Chinese companies have built Kampala-Entebbe Expressway linking the Ugandan capital to Entebbe International Airport, the country’s gateway to the world.
China is also financing the expansion and upgrading of Entebbe International Airport so that it is able to better handle passenger and cargo traffic to and from the east African country.
Part of the Kampala-Entebbe Express Highway now at over 90% progress.
African leaders will gather in Beijing Monday for a summit focused on economic ties, granting China a feel-good photo opportunity as it comes under increasing fire for its debt-laden approach to aid in the developing world.
President Xi Jinping will host leaders from across the continent for the two-day Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, which will include talks on his cherished “Belt and Road” infrastructure programme.
The massive scheme, aimed at improving Chinese access to foreign markets and resources, and boosting its influence abroad, has already seen Beijing loan billions of dollars to countries in Asia and Africa for roads, railways, ports and other major building projects.
“The initiative will probably be expanded to include the whole of Africa,” said Cobus van Staden, senior researcher on Africa-China relations at the South African Institute of International Affairs.