Cabinet has set up an Inter-Ministerial Committee to identify projects that can be funded by grants and loans totalling $60 billion (UGx224 trillion) extended to Africa by Chinese president Xi Jinping.
President Jinping pledged the fund during last month’s Forum on China Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) hosted by the Chinese government in Beijing.
The committee was set up during a cabinet weekly meeting held yesterday.
Media Centre boss, Ofwono Opondo (pictured) who communicated the cabinet decision during a press conference held this morning, said that the committee will advise cabinet on opportunities and projects that should be prioritized for funding.
Uganda’s priorities are industrial promotion, infrastructure connectivity, trade facilitation, green development, capacity building, health care, people to people exchange peace and security.
No SGR trillions
Opinion among experts is divided on how fruitful President Yoweri Museveni’s recent trip to the China-Africa forum was after it emerged he failed to ink a deal on funding for the the standard gauge railway.
officials in Kampala had said that firming up plans for financing the SGR would be high on President Museveni’s agenda.
But these plans were scuttled after President Uhuru Kenyatta asked China to give Kenya a grant to complete the Naivasha –Kisumu leg of the SGR.
Kenya’s failure to conclude a financing deal means Uganda is a long way from starting to build its side of the SGR.
China had already told Uganda that it would only fund the Malaba-Kampala section of the SGR if Kenya committed to funding the entire Nairobi-Malaba leg of the project.
On Monday, Finance minister Matia Kasaija announced that Uganda had put the multibillion-dollar project on hold.
