Sanjay Rughani, Chief Executive Officer the bank's Ugandan unit, told Museveni the lender was interested in the project, according to the statement, which was issued late this Thursday.

Rughani was part of a delegation of Standard Chartered Bank officials that met Museveni and that included Faruq Muhammad, the bank's global Head of Structured Export Finance, it added.

"We have submitted our interest to finance many other projects such as SGR," the statement quoted Rughani as telling Museveni.

The 273-kilometre railway is expected to drastically cut the cost of shipping goods for landlocked Uganda by connecting to neighbouring Kenya's own SGR which runs to the Indian Ocean seaport of Mombasa.

In 2015, Uganda entered into an agreement with Chinese firm China Harbour and Engineering Company Ltd to implement the project on condition the firm helps secure funds for the railway from the Chinese government.

After years of fruitless talks, Uganda last year terminated the agreement and is currently holding talks with Turkey's Yapi Merkezi to undertake the project.

--Reuters--