In a post on the X platform, the East African country’s finance ministry said Uganda is “in talks with the World Bank to support the project.”

Earlier this month the Washington-based global lender confirmed to Reuters it was considering “an array of potential financing options” for the project.

A Ugandan delegation in Washington for the IMF and World Bank Spring Meetings met officials from Citibank led by Richard Hodder, the managing director and global head export and agency finance “to discuss progress made in mobilising the required financing for the SGR project,” the post said.

After a prolonged delay caused by unfruitful efforts to secure financing from Beijing, Uganda in 2024 handed the SGR project to Turkish construction firm Yapi Merkezi.

Initial preparatory works have begun with some financing from the government but full-scale construction has yet to begin, pending availability of funding.

The 272-kilometre (169 mile) rail line will run from the capital Kampala to Malaba at the border with Kenya, connecting landlocked Uganda to its neighbour’s rail network and onto the Indian Ocean seaport of Mombasa.