Uganda has been waiting for its Bujagali and Nyagak hydropower projects for awhile, and finally the waiting seems almost over. Both projects faced delays as a result of being unable to meet financial requirements.
The Bujagali dam began construction in 2007 and an announcement was made in August 2008 that the construction was running three months ahead of schedule. The next year, the 250 MW project’s costs continued to rise, reaching $860 million. This fueled concerns over the project’s sponsor, Bujagali Energy Ltd. (BEL), and claims that the project would decrease power costs for Ugandans when it could actually raise residents’ electricity bills.
The World Bank entered into action recommending a 5% increase in tariffs over the next years to avoid the shock of the price hikes. The country responded at the onset of 2011 by doubling the amount of subsidies to private power companies. Uganda’s energy minister told local news sources that the dam was “a bad project, over-delayed, and overpriced.” And in June 2010, the government was refunded its initial sh191.3 billion offering for the Bujagali project.
Now it is expected that the first 50 MW of the Bujagali hydropower dam will come online in November, and the Nyagak project will produce 3.6 MW in December. The EU’s minister for energy and mineral development Irene Muloni said that the commissioning of the entire 250-MW Bujagali plant would be completed by April 2012.
In addition, feasibility studies for the development of the Karuma and Ayago hydropower projects, each totaling 600 MW, have also been finalized. "It is envisaged that these will be on board by the end of January 2012 and the construction of the project will take about four to five years therefore by 2016 we shall have Karuma’s first unit come on line," Muloni said.
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