Uganda and Turkish construction firm Yapi Merkezi signed a contract on Monday, October 14, to build a 272-kilometre standard gauge railway (SGR) in a bid to boost regional trade, according to reports.

The agreement was signed by Uganda's Works Permanent Secretary, Bageya Waiswa, and Yapi Merkezi's vice chairman, Erdem Arioglu. Uganda’s Standard Gauge Railway project coordinator, Perez Wamburu, is quoted saying the agreement was for the first section of a planned 1,700-kilometre electric rail line, and the segment would cost 2.7 billion euros ($3 billion).

Its construction will start in November and the project will take 48 months to complete.

The rail section will run from the capital, Kampala, to Malaba at the border with Kenya, connecting Uganda to its neighbour’s rail network and on to the Indian Ocean seaport of Mombasa.