Abraham Byandala, the Minister of Works and Transport, says the country currently does not have the money to revamp the railway system.
Byandala explains that reconstructing a railway line is too costly with rebuilding a kilometer of rail in a good terrain costing US$2M while in bad terrain it costs up to US$ 7m. He says the country cannot afford to raise that amount until oil exports from the Albertine region begin.
The Minister explains that the railway lines that have been earmarked for reconstruction include the Tororo-Pakwach-Nimule line.
Byandala says government has so far signed a memorandum of understanding with a Chinese company to design the railway lines which also include the Kasese-Kampala line ahead of reconstruction which is expected in three years.
The minister also explained that lack of funds has limited the operations of Rift Valley Railwaya-RVR the company that currently manages the Kenya-Uganda railway line.
The government of Kenya last year secured a fifteen billion shillings loan to try and improve on the activities of RVR.
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