The Rehabilitation of the $ 301 million Kampala-Malaba railway line is nearing completion, with 95 percent of the work done, the contractor, Chinese Railway and Bridge Cooperation, has said.
The phased rehabilitation of the route started in February with funding from the African Development Bank Group and is due to be completed next month.
The first phase included engineering design for the Kampala multimodal hub and the refurbishment of sections of Kampala-Namanve and Tororo-Malaba, totalling 28 kilometres.
The second phase covered the Environmental Study and impact Assessment, purchase of workshop equipment and rolling stock, including wagons and locomotives, as well as the rehabilitation of Namanve-Tororo, Port Bell line, Jinja Pier line and Kampala-Kyengera sections totalling 245 km.
The railway, which is part of the Northern Corridor of the East African community, will link Kampala to the Port of Mombasa in Kenya, and it is expected to boost rail services and lower transportation costs.
In a statement, Qin said, the government was working hard to improve the situation in the region.
In order to curb vandalism at the newly rehabilitated line, President John Sengendo, the Uganda Railways Corporation's senior public relations and communication officer, said: In order to curb vandalism at the newly rehabilitated line, they are going to employ permanent inspectors and install sensors to detect broken points on rails.
Kenya and Uganda are working together to develop an old metre gauge rail project.
's Defence Forces and local leaders along the line to see that vandalism stops,' Sengendo said, adding that repairing a single rail costs $8.
The passenger hubs will also be constructed, and they are going to lay a concrete slipper line from Mukono to Kampala, Mukono to Kyengera, and Kampala to Port Bell, Mr Sengendo said.