“We need cheap electricity to get out of poverty,”- President Museveni.
President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni and his Tanzanian
counterpart H.E Samia Suluhu Hassan have commissioned the Kikagati-Murongo
Hydropower Plant in Isingiro district.
The 14 Megawatts cross-border dam is located on the Kagera
River, the largest tributary of Lake Victoria, which serves as the natural
border between Tanzania and Uganda.
Speaking at the ceremony shortly after commissioning
today, President Museveni welcomed Her Excellency Samia Suluhu Hassan to the Western
part of Uganda to commission a project on River Kagera that will benefit the
two sister countries.
“It's good that we’re beginning to utilize the potential
of the Kagera River,” President Museveni noted, adding that 11 miles downstream
from the location is Nshungezi where there are 38 megawatts to benefit both
Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania.
“It’s a big honour to have President Samia Suluhu Hassan
come here for the first time in this area. You have been to other parts of
Uganda, but you hadn’t come here. We are very lucky, and I welcome you here,”
H.E Museveni said.
The plant which was developed by Kikagati Power Company
Limited (KPCL) will sell its power to the National Grid and consumers will pay
US Cents 8.5 per kilowatt hour for the electricity generated. The cost,
according to President Museveni is too high if it’s to serve the intended
purpose and implored the developers to make it cheaper for people to get out of
poverty.
“This price of 8.5 cents per unit is not a Christian idea
because we’re insisting that power especially for manufacturing should be about
5 cents,” H.E Museveni said, mentioning dams like Karuma and Isimba where the
production cost is 4.8 cents per unit and Bujagaali which started at 13 cents
and has now come to 8.3 cents per unit.
“We need cheap electricity especially for manufacturing.
There’s no way we can have expensive electricity and then you want us to get
out of poverty,” H.E Museveni further noted.
He informed the gathering that with the Chinese loans,
Uganda is able to produce power at 4.7 or 4.8 cents per unit “and our own dams
where we already paid the debts, we’re able to have power at 1.2 cents per
unit.”
According to Berkeley Energy, the developers of the
project, it was envisioned in the Bilateral Agreement that the power generated
by the project will be equally shared between the two countries. Under the
power sharing agreement, the two countries agreed that Tanzania would take
2.5MW in the first 3 years from the commissioning date (about 35% of power
generated) to fulfil the lower energy demand on the Northwestern part of
Tanzania. However, President Museveni disagreed with the power sharing idea.
“This argument about who takes more power, I’m not part of
that argument. If Tanzania needs the power more, they take it provided they pay
for it, what’s the problem? If they wanted 2 megawatts originally and now, they
want 4, they should get the 4. I am authorizing it here now! If they want all
the 14, they should take but they pay, what’s the problem? H.E Museveni
wondered, adding that Uganda is already exporting power from Masaka to Bukoba.
On her part, the President of the United Republic of
Tanzania, H.E Suluhu thanked President Museveni for the invitation to
commission a power plant that will immensely strengthen the historic and
fraternal relations between the two countries that continue to improve day by
day.
“Frankly speaking, I applaud your vision to inaugurate
this project and see to it that it is accomplished. I have had a chance to
visit the project and it is really well done. Congratulations and thank you so
much,” H.E Suluhu said, adding that the power plant will improve a lot of
things including; trading and investment, transportation of people and goods,
social services, clean and safe water and education.
“The power is going to improve security in our area
because it is going to bridge the inequality and the communication gap between
the urban and rural settings,” President Suluhu noted.
The ceremony was also addressed by the Ministers of Energy
of both countries; Ruth Nankabirwa of Uganda and Mr. January Makamba of
Tanzania. They hailed the two Presidents for their good leadership in ensuring
that the project is completed successfully. They pledged to ensure that even
other projects like the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), Masaka Mwanza
transmission line, a gas pipeline project among others are completed
successfully.
“We know that they’re important to you, our countries and
our people,” Minister January Makamba said.
The project received support from several multi-laterals,
including the Africa Renewable Energy Fund (AREF); a $205 million fund managed
by Berkeley Energy and all the loans will be repaid over 16 years, starting
from the date of commissioning.
Being a cross-border project, the initiative fits with the
East African Community Vision 2050 and Article 101 of the Treaty for the
Establishment of the East African Community under which the Partner States
agreed, among others, to cooperate in the exploitation of renewable energy
resources to supply affordable energy to their people.
The ceremony was attended by officials from the Ministries
of the two countries, Security officials and the leadership of Isingiro
district.
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