West Nile connected to the national grid

Nebbi: President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has commissioned the newly constructed Kole- Gulu- Nebbi- Arua Transmission line, that connects the West Nile sub-region to the national power grid.

The 132kV power line was successfully energized at Nebbi Substation.

During the commissioning over the weekend, President Museveni highlighted some historical facts regarding the progress of Uganda’s electricity sector and the story behind the journey of connecting West Nile to the national grid.

“The argument by some people who say that we had forgotten West Nile were wrong, they were not serious, they were disruptive actually,” Museveni said.

“When the NRM came into government, the only installed power in Uganda was Owen Falls Dam with a generation capacity of 150 Megawatts, with only four turbines (15 Megawatts each) working out of 10. Therefore, the total Megawatts in Uganda was 60 Megawatts. And by contract we had to send 30 Megawatts to Kenya. This was a contract between the colonies of Kenya and Uganda long ago. Therefore, the actual power in Uganda was 30 Megawatts.”

President Museveni explained that after coming to power, what the NRM government did was to find ways of increasing the power quantity in the country.

“The first thing we did was to repair Owen Falls Dam back to 150 Megawatts and fine tune the generators to add another 30 Megawatts, so we ended up with 180 Megawatts. We were selling 30 megawatts to Kenya and keeping 150 Megawatts for Uganda.”

The president however expressed disappointment over MPs  in the past previous parliaments who frustrated his move to generate cheap electricity for Ugandans.

“I worked so hard and got an American group to develop Bujagali on a private basis and then we agreed that they should sell electricity at 4.9 cents per unit. When we took it to Parliament, they blocked it. Actually, you should find out who were these people (MPs) who blocked the proposal because we cannot go on like this. Actually, sometimes I feel I should go back to the bush and do some damage to something or what?” he said.

He noted that  after the 2006 general elections, he tasked the cabinet to prioritise infrastructural development with a main focus on electricity and roads and according to him, this directive played a big role in steering development in the country.

“That is when we created the energy fund and we put money there. That energy fund liberated us because we had freedom of action. Because of the energy fund, I started discussing with the Chinese to build Karuma and Isimba. Initially, we wanted to pay all of it ourselves from our budget but the Chinese Ambassador who was here said the Exim bank of China can extend a loan. That is how we ended up building Isimba of 183 Megawatts and Karuma of 650 Megawatts and so on.”

“Now in the meantime, my wonderful people went behind my back, that group is also there. They signed a new Bujagali agreement without my knowledge where they removed the agreement I had reached with the American company of 4.9 cents, then I heard that they had started building Bujagali. I didn’t know the details, I thought they had the same terms so when Bujagali is finished, what is the price? 16 cents.”

On the other hand, the president said with the new power line, the country will be able to attract more investors who can set up factories in West Nile.

“There is a lot of power waiting to be used. What I would recommend is to develop an industrial park somewhere in the West Nile near the power.”

The Minister of Energy and Mineral Development, Ruth Nankabirwa said she was happy that the West Nile sub-region has finally been connected to the national grid.

“I and my team took a decision to prioritise the connection of the West Nile region to the National grid amidst the many challenges and pressures that we have,” she said.

She  also commended President Museveni for his steady leadership characterised by peace, security and development.

“You invested in the stability of the country, you worked on the infrastructure; roads, transport and electricity beginning from generation. You cannot supply what you don’t have. You have mobilised money and new power stations and transmission lines have been established,” Nankabirwa noted.

The event was also attended by the Vice President, Jessica Alupo, the Minister of State in-charge of Minerals, Phiona Nyamutoro, the Minister of State for Northern Uganda Affairs, Dr. Kenneth Omona, Mr. Kwame Ejalu, UETCL Board Chairman, among others.

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