Uganda through the Ministry Of Energy and Mineral Development has recorded increased power generation capacity from 939.24MW in June 2018 to 1,174.69MW as at June 2019.
According to State Minister for Energy, Simon D’Ujanga this will reduce the cost of production through reduced power prices, which he says will boost investment and industrialization.
D’Ujanga says that the increase has been made possible due the commissioning of new hydro generating dams.
The minister made the remarks during an interview with Business Focus on the sidelines of the Energy Sector Joint Review that ended on Thursday 18th September 2019.
The theme of the sector review was “Harnessing Energy and Mineral Resources for Industrialization and Sustainable Economic Growth”.
“The installed power generation capacity increased with the addition of 235.45MW to the grid from 939.24MW in June 2018 to 1,174.69MW as at June 2019. This increment was a result of completing and successfully commissioning of Isimba dam 183.2MW; Nkusi 9.6MW; Mahoma 2.7MW; Waki 4.8MW; Sindila 5.25MW; Mayuge Solar 10MW and Kabulasoke Solar 20MW. This shall be another milestone to the energy generation capacity for industrialization and economic development,” D’Ujanga said.
He however noted that though the ministry has recorded various successes, there are still challenges including land acquisition, vandalism on the transmission lines and other installations among others.
“Whereas the sector has had enormous successes and achievements, there have been challenges as well, some of which are exogenous to the sector. These include land acquisition, vandalism on the transmission lines and other installations, and limited counterpart government releases of funding for energy and mineral development infrastructure projects,” he said.
In a related development, the Permanent Secretary for Energy Ministry, Robert Kasande said the partnership among oil companies is still strong.
He said the scaling down of operations by Tullow oil Company isn’t a big issue because they still have their sizable resources and that they are looking for more capital to invest after which government will discuss with them.
The European Union Head of Delegation representative, Cedric Merel advised government to increase counter funding options in addition to the concessional loans including engaging the private sector agreements which he says will sustain the funding and investment in various projects.
By Drake Nyamugabwa
