Uganda commissions 183MW power dam
Kampala, Uganda (PANA) - Uganda on Thursday commissioned a newly constructed 183 megawatt hydroelectric power dam, bringing its installed power capacity to just over 1000 megawatts, a major step in solving electricity shortage in the country.
Later this year, Uganda expects to commission a 600 megawatt power plant to complete a turnaround in a country whose economy was nearly brought to its knees at the turn of the century.
The two power projects – the 183 megawatt Isimba power dam and 600 megawatt Karuma power plant – have been heavily bankrolled by China’s Exim Bank and built by Chinese construction firms, with the government of Uganda contributing counterpart funding of 15 percent. Isimba cost $568 million while Karuma is projected to $2.2 billion.
At the height of the power shortage, Uganda entered an agreement with a foreign investor to build 250 megawatt Bujagali power project, which cost US$862 million and was commissioned in 2012. Bujagali, however, was built using expensive money and sells its power for eight dollar cents per kilowatt, which has made electricity expensive.
In the agreements for Isimba and Karuma projects, the government was more cautious regarding the eventual cost of power, reducing it to five dollar cents per kilowatt hour for the new projects.
At the launch of Isimba power dam, located 67 km east of the capital Kampala, President Yoweri Museveni was upbeat, declaring a “new dawn” and prophesying that Uganda’s industrialisation will soon be “unstoppable”.
Uganda is a predominantly agricultural country, with official figures indicating that about 70 percent of its 40 million people are engaged in subsistence agriculture.
The International Monetary Fund projected that the country’s economy would grow at 6.2 percent in financial year 2018/19.
-0- PANA EM/AR 21Mar2019
