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Uganda 600MW Karuma Dam Power Project to be funded by Chinese Government

A Chinese firm contracted to build Karuma Hydropower Dam has started surveying the site ahead of construction works scheduled to start this year.

The company has created an access road to the site and erected a billboard bearing artistic impressions of the proposed 600 megawatt (MW) hydropower dam to be built on River Nile.

The Government early this week granted permission to Sinohydro Corporation Limited, to survey the project site to prepare for construction.

Kabagambe Kaliisa, the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Energy, in a letter dated June 3, granted the company temporary access to the area to set up facilities and carry out site investigations.

“This is to grant your company temporary access to the project site to enable you carry out investigations and surveys to facilitate securing funds for the project,” Kaliisa wrote.

The company yesterday said granting it the permit would hasten the process of receiving funds from the Chinese government, which is funding the project under a bilateral arrangement.

‘This action will facilitate a speedy confirmation to the contractor from the government of the People’s Republic of China and the EXIM bank of China to avail funds to complete this project under the bilateral arrangement between the two countries,’ the company said in a statement.

Kaliisa tasked the company to notify Uganda as soon as it receives confirmation on funding for the project.

The project is expected to generate over 6,000 jobs for Ugandans working as welders, joiners, carpenters, porters, project accountants, electrical and mechanical engineers, cooks and cleaners.

Completion of the project is expected to take seven years, at an estimated cost of $2b (about 5 trillion shillings).

By Taddeo Bwambale
The New vision Newspaper
7-july-2013

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Aug 13, 2013
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starstarstarstarstar 		Museveni launches construction works for Karuma Hydropower dam
by: Anonymous

President Museveni is today expected to preside over the ground breaking ceremony for the construction of of Karuma Hydropower Plant.

In June, the government awarded the contract of constructing the 600MW Karuma dam to Sinohydro Corporation, a Chinese firm. The dam is expected to cost about $2.2 billion (about Shs6 trillion).

A transmission line from Karuma to a location where the power will be integrated into the national power grid will also be constructed.

However, today’s ceremony comes at a time when residents of Kiryandongo District have petitioned the government to operationalise the construction of a satellite city at Karuma falls.

City benefits
The residents said the project will attract investors and facilities that will scale up urbanisation.

Kiryandongo County MP Sam Otada said his constituents are wondering why the city has never been operationalised although it was proposed in 2009.

He said the government promised to set up a city on River Kafu banks.
However, the Ministry of Lands spokesperson, Mr Dennis Obbo, at the weekend said: “The dam and the city are complimentary and not conflicting. The planning process is underway.”
Mr Obbo said on Saturday by telephone.

He said the ministry will zone, develop structural and detailed plans for the proposed city. He however did not state when the city will become operational.

Mr Otada said whereas the project has excited locals, who hope to tap the business and employment opportunities that will come with the project, they want assurances that the project will not destroy the environment.

“We welcome (construction of the) dam but we wouldn’t want Karuma falls to be destroyed. We want the falls to be preserved because they are a tourist attraction in our district” he said.

The Energy state minister Mr Simon D’ujang said there will be enough water for the dam and the falls.

“An environmental impact assessment has been conducted and the designs indicate that the power will be generated underground without affecting the falls”D’ujang said.
The Bunyoro affairs state minister Mr Ernest Kiiza said the dam will catalyze development of the Midwestern region and Uganda as a whole.

“The dam will provide additional power required for industrial growth,” Kiiza said.
Besides providing jobs to locals, Mr Kiiza said the dam will provide an opportunity to farmers in Bunyoro to add value to their agricultural products when agro processing industries emerge

The New Vision Newspaper
12-Aug-2013

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