Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni on Thursday said the country was in the final stage of negotiations over the construction of the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR).
In his state of nation address, Museveni said an agreement would soon be signed once the protracted negotiations are concluded.
"We have got a good formula and we shall conclude so that we start building the SGR," he said.
The president did not mention with whom the government is negotiating with.
The SGR links the landlocked country to the Kenyan seaport of Mombasa. Kenya has completed construction of the SGR linking its capital Nairobi to Mombasa, with construction to western Kenya underway.
The Nairobi-Mombasa SGR is built by China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) and financed by China's Export Import Bank.
Museveni said the SGR would bring down the cost of transport from 3,456 dollars per 40 feet container by road to 1,800 dollars using the SGR.