President Museveni has vowed to ensure that power producers in the country don’t charges high electricity costs for manufacturing. He says the cost of electricity in Uganda must not go beyond 8 American cents. Museveni said that the manufacturers must get electricity at 5 American cents.
Museveni told the Joint East African Head Of State retreat on Infrastructure and health Financing that the country cannot boost its manufacturing capacity with high electricity tariffs.
The retreat was discussing the possibility of using public-private partnerships (PPPs) or private finance for public infrastructure in electricity, roads and health sectors.
Museveni noted that while private public-private partnerships (PPPs) could help where government does not have own funds to finance such projects, their end tariffs should not be too high.
Museveni cited the 250-megawatt (MW) Bujagali dam on the River Nile, developed by U.S. Blackstone Group and the Aga Khan Development Network whose power he said has turned out to be very expensive for the country.
Bujagali was the first independent power project (IPP) in sub-Saharan Africa. It remains one of the largest, with an investment of some $900m. It was funded by the World Bank and several European development finance agencies.
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