Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2014 17:12:38 +0200
Donors care less about us - Museveni
By Stephen Kafeero
Posted Friday, October 10 2014 at 01:00
In Summary
No big deal. Donors, according to President Museveni, do not mind whether
Uganda and Africa at large is developed or not.
KAMPALA: President Museveni has scoffed at donors, saying 'some or all'
don't care whether Uganda is developed or not. He was speaking during
commissioning of the Malaba-Kampala section of East Africa's Standard Gauge
Railway (SGR) on Wednesday in Kampala.
"I have been in government for many years and I have come to a conclusion
that some of our friends did not mind whether we are developed or not
because no aid agency was ready to fund railway transport," he said. He said
Uganda's development partners had for a long time denied the country funding
to construct the much needed railway.
The President also said Uganda would in the next two or three years not need
external funding to finance its infrastructure projects. He said the country
would use proceeds from oil to pay for projects that will lead to the
development of Uganda.
"We shall be having our own money from oil and even the Chinese will not
have to suffer advancing us these huge loans," the President said. The
President also said the SGR project will reduce the cost of doing business
by over 50 per cent.
Africa, according to President Museveni, has in the last 100 years had no
new modern railway built on the continent apart from Tazara Railway in
Tanzania.
Key notes
Project link. The Malaba-Kampala section of the SGR is part of the Northern
Corridor Integration Project which will run from Mombasa through Nairobi,
Kenya to Kampala, Kigali, Rwanda and Juba, South Sudan.
Jobs created. This particular section is expected to create more than 15,000
jobs both for professional workers, assistants and support staff during the
four years of construction.
sdkafeero_at_ug.nationmedia.com
http://www.monitor.co.ug/image/view/-/2480436/highRes/847437/-/maxw/600/-/gw
epog/-/news004px.jpg
(L-R) South Sudan President Salva Kiir, Paul Kagame of Rwanda and President
Museveni at the launch of the Standard Gauge Railway line in Kampala on
Wednesday. ppu PHOTO.
(image/jpeg attachment: image007.jpg)