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dam-l Another story on Uganda dam/LS
>From "today's news" (no actual date given for stories) section on
http://www.uganda.co.ug/newsline/
US firm to build $430 million power dam in Uganda
The Ugandan parliament has okayed the construction by
an American multinational of a US$430
million hydro power plant on the River Nile.
The cost of the project had been brought down by
Parliament and officials of donors organisations
led by the World Bank from $515 million, Aston Kajara,
chairman of parliament's natural resources
committee said.
Mr. Christian Wright, the Applied Energy Services
(AES) Kampala manager says they will initially
produce between 200 and 250 megawatts of power, which
will be passed on to the state-run Uganda
Electricity Board for distribution.
Uganda, which suffers a power deficit of some 60MW,
exports power to Kenya, Rwanda and
Tanzania, and last month passed a law to liberalise
the power sector.
A power purchase agreement Uganda is to sign with AES
will have Uganda buy power from the firm
at a revised tariff rate of US cents 3.9 down from the
previous US cents 11.
The parliament took nine months debating the power
purchase agreement, which was earlier said to
be in favour of the American firm.
There has also been widespread opposition to the
construction of the dam at the scenic Bujagali Falls
on the grounds that the construction would submerge
the falls, kill local tourism and the booming
white water rafting; and that the falls are the homes
of traditional spirits of the local community.
Industrialists have welcomed the licencing of the
power dam as constant load shedding was terribly
affecting their businesses. Studies by the World Bank
indicate supply of electricity remains the
leading infrastructure constraint to Ugandans
enterprises; firms are without power 91days per year
because of load shedding. Some 42 percent of the firms
surveyed earlier this year supplemented with
diesel generators.
At the moment only five percent of Ugandans have
access to electricity, but the country has
continued exporting power mainly because it needs
foreign exchange and was bound by former
colonial master Britain to export some power to
neighbouring states..
The original agreement AES had presented to government
was on the basis of Build, Operate and
Own but the one okayed by parliament will be for
Build, Own, Operate and Transfer. "This means
that after the 30-year period the hydro electric plant
will be transferred to Uganda by AES," MP
Aston Kajara said.
A Norwegian power company, NORPAK, which is seeking to
build a hydroelectric power plant at
Karuma Falls along the River Nile says its power will
go for cheaper tariffs.
Managing Director Lawrence Omulen says, "We are ready
to begin work. There is already a
construction company from Norway meeting with
potential suppliers and construction partners. As
long as we get [the] greenlight from government, we
will start." NORPAK says within 36 months it
will bring on line a dam producing 200 mega watts.
Energy minister Syda Bumba says a load forecast which
has been carried out shows that by the year
2004, despite the existence of AES's power plant,
Uganda will experience a power deficit in the
range of 203 megawatts. It was therefore important to
licence the NORPAK project, she said.
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Lori Pottinger, Director, Southern Africa Program,
and Editor, World Rivers Review
International Rivers Network
1847 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, California 94703, USA
Tel. (510) 848 1155 Fax (510) 848 1008
http://www.irn.org
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