Uganda is set to start the plans to construct the Standard gauge railway with effect next month. This has been in plan since November 2024 when President Museveni Commissioned the construction of the standard gauge railway from the Kenyan border in Malaba to Kampala.
The government gave the contract to a Turkish Company Mackenzie, currently doing the same work in Dar es Salaam to Mwanza in Tanzania.
According to the Works and Transport Minister Gen. Edward Katumba Wamala, Uganda has enough space or distance for the contractor to start. He also added that the contractor is in Uganda carrying all the different checks needs to see how they will start and also bring in all their equipment.
The SGR project was established by Cabinet Minute 107 of 2025 to develop a modern, integrated, and efficient railway transport system to address both freight and passenger transportation needs of Uganda.
The first phase of the SGR project will take four years and will cost 2.7 billion euros (equivalent to 10.8 trillion shillings). The contractor is the Turkish firm Yapi Merkezi. It is jointly funded by the Government of Uganda and the African Development Bank.
