Chinese companies are likely to get a lion’s share of Uganda’s current infrastructural projects because they are willing to get repaid from future oil revenue, unlike Western businesses that expect advance payment, the Prime Minister’s office said.

The government is seeking investment that will improve electricity generation and transportation networks to drive economic growth so that Uganda can get to middle-income status by as early as 2016.

“Western companies want the old model where they are first advanced money before starting on the projects; whereas the Chinese companies, most of which are owned by government, can start without the money,” said David Kyetume Kasanga, a spokesman in Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi’s office. The terms of so-called “package loans” from China allow upfront investment, delaying payback until later by either cash or “in-kind” payments, Kasanga said today. See the story here