Uganda is looking to amend a loan agreement it signed with China in 2015
The Monitor reports that Uganda is looking to amend a loan agreement it signed with China in 2015 to ensure the government doesn’t lose control of the country’s only international airport.
According to reports, the East African nation borrowed $200 million from the Export-Import Bank of China to expand Entebbe airport.
According to Monitor, among the terms the government wants to change is that the Uganda Civil Aviation Authority must seek approval from the Chinese lender on its budget and strategic plans. Another rule stipulates that any dispute between the parties will have to be resolved by the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission, according to the newspaper.
A spokesman for Uganda’s aviation regulator and China’s Director-General for African Affairs in separate tweets denied that the Chinese lender had taken over the airport.
China’s Belt and Road projects have caused controversy around the world. In Sri Lanka, the government in 2017 agreed to a joint venture led by China Merchants Port Holdings Co. led the port lease for 99 years in exchange for $1.1 billion. In Pakistan, the original plan to build a seaport, road, railway, pipeline, dozens of factories and the country’s largest airport has yet to materialize.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from an aggregated feed.)
