The government of Uganda has terminated a contract signed in 2014 with China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) for the construction of the 273 km Malaba – Kampala standard gauge railway (SGR) line. The contract was worth €2.1 billion (US$2.3 billion), but the funding promised by the Chinese government was not provided. Instead, the Ugandan government signed a memorandum of understanding with the Turkish construction company Yapi Merkezi. Although the construction of the Malaba – Kampala SGR line has been delayed, the government has been able to focus on the rehabilitation of the Malaba – Kampala metre-gauge railway (MGR) line. Funding of €347.6 million was approved for the rehabilitation in June 2020.
