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dam-l Fwd: uganda
Uganda to partially open new hydro-power station
( May 18, 2000 )
KAMPALA, May 18 (AFP) - Uganda opens part of its 300-million-dollar new
200-megawatt power project on Friday, Uganda Electricity Board (UEB) spokesman
Edward Mwine told AFP.
Mwine said the move was to bolster supply for national demand that requires an
additional 100mw to satisfy.
The first unit producing 40 megawatts of hydro-power on the extension of Owen
Falls Dam at the source of River Nile will be switched on Friday, with another
unit with a similar capacity to be commissioned in July.
Mwine said the two units would reduce Uganda's current power deficit to 20
megawatts. Once the project was finished the national demand of 280 megawatts
would have been satified, with 80mw spare capacity.
The old dam constructed in 1954 has been supplying only 180mw for Uganda, with
neighbouring countries importing power from the same sources.
But demand has been growing by two percent monthly, according to energy
ministry statistics.
Mwine estimated an additional 80mw would considerably reduce the need for power
rationing.
Manufacturers have been complaining about the loss of dozens of work hours in a
year due to load-shedding, a normal power rationing exercise to ease pressure
on the existing dam.
"By July we hope to reduce load-shedding in the country, though it will not be
completely," said Mwine.
The project suffered problems in its early stages after a Chinese company on
the contract was taken off the job in 1996 due to delays and doubts about the
quality of its work. Italian company, Impregilo Salini, won a fresh bid.
It was scheduled to complete the work last year, but poor weather again delayed
the project.
A second power project by an American company, expected to cost about 500
million dollars, is scheduled for construction a few kilometres (miles) away
from the current power house. It has also suffered some setbacks however.
Environmentalists question its location by the green scenery and waterfalls of
Bujagali.
A third power project to be undertaken by Norwegian company, Norpak, is also
expected to construct a dam at Karuma falls on northern Uganda's River Nile
streams.
Demand for electricity will grow even higher when Uganda embarks on its
500-million-dollar rural electrification programme, which is expected to be
financed by the World Bank.
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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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