Minister of Energy and Mineral Development Hon Ruth Nankabirwa launches the launches the USD4.2 million power line in Luuka. Looking on is African Development Bank Country Manager Mr. Augustine Kpehe Ngafuan
Umeme has commissioned another multibillion project in Luuka District in its quest to boost the Government’s ambitious access agenda and rural electrification.
The US$ 4,205,623 (about sh15.2b) project, that involved the construction of over a 500km distribution line, with 96 transformers, will benefit up to 1,000 households.
The funding is part of the $100m (about sh360b) the Government secured from the African Development Bank (AfDB) to switch-on some of the long-pending new electricity connection applicants under the Umeme footprint.
Up to 87,500 no-pole of the 250,000 applicants, dating back to 2019, will benefit from the funding.
Blessing Nshaho, the Umeme Chief Corporate and Regulatory Officer, disclosed that the leading utility had completed the connection of the 22,371 consumers of the 87,500 applicants.
“Under Luuka District, we have so far received 500 applications from customers who are eligible to be connected under the AfDB funding, with a target of 825 connections and a total of 2,032 connections for the Greater Iganga Area,” Nshaho said.
He urged the local leaders to sensitize the communities against vandalizing electricity distribution infrastructure.
“You are the owners of the distribution network. If you vandalize it, you will suffer unreliable power supply and hamper your socio-economic transformation,” Nshaho cautioned.
He said the Luuka project was one of the many projects the company was implementing in support of government’s ambitious access agenda and rural electrification.
“As Umeme, we desperately want our customers to have a great experience – by having connections done quickly, and for customers to receive good quality and reliable electricity supply once they are connected. We feel pain when our customers are off supply, and we do whatever it takes to restore supply as soon as we can,” Nshaho observed.
Ruth Nankabirwa, the Energy and Mineral Development Minister, said recently that the Government is committed to ensuring that Ugandans have access to clean and safe energy.
“The Government is intensifying evacuation programmes for the electricity generation and distribution to Ugandans,” she said.
It is a good development.