Minister of State for Planning, David Bahati
Government is seeking Parliament’s approval to borrow up to Shs1.394Trn to repair the Kampala-Malaba Railway line.
Minister of State for Planning, David Bahati said Government will borrow Euro 216.71million from the African Development Fund, Euro84.41 million from the African Development Bank and Euro25.9841 million from the Corporate Internationalization Fund of Spain for the refurbishment of the Kampala – Malaba meter gauge railway project.
Geoffrey Macho (Busia Municipality) wondered why Uganda is injecting money in the stone age railway, while other nations are adopting the modern standard gauge railway.
He said, “Whereas other countries are moving towards standard gauge railway, what is wrong with Uganda who has cursed us? When are you bringing this loan back?”
Parliament also rejected the request by Minister Bahati to proposal to hedge Euro100 million approximately Shs426.659bn from Stanbic Bank (u) Ltd to finance the budget deficit for FY2019/20.
This was after Speaker Kadaga blasted Government for bringing the loan request with just a few days to the end of the tenure of the 10th Parliament and asked him to table the request after the 11th Parliament kicks off.
“I think I informed Government that that we are in the closing stages of the 10th Parliament. I think you are either taking us for granted or overstretching the capacity of this Parliament to process this loan in a very short time. Why don’t you table this in the 11th Parliament? You aren’t being fair to Parliament,” Speaker remarked.
Minister Bahati conceded and promised to table the loan request when the 11th Parliament kicks off.
