25 June 2013
The contract to build Uganda’s biggest hydro-electric dam project has been awarded to a Chinese company, bringing an end to two and a half years of delay.
Sinohydro Corporation has won the engineering, procurement and construction contract for the $1.65bn dam and will also construct the related transmission line to Kawanda sub-station.
Work is expected to start next month on the 600MW Karuma Dam and take five years to complete.
Uganda’s Energy minister Eng. Irene Muloni and Yunli Zhang from Sinohydro signed the contract last Thursday in front of Attorney General Peter Nyombi (Credit: Newvision)
Faced with ever-growing electricity demand, Uganda needs to commission at least 50MW every year to avoid load-shedding, according to the Electricity Regulatory Authority.
Energy minister Irene Muloni said: "The issue of electricity and energy is a critical one for Uganda and everyone should support this project as it will increase power supply for investments and agriculture production."
The country has several other dam projects in the pipeline that could come online within three years.
Source: Newvision.co.ug
