KAMPALA, UGANDA: The Minister for Energy and Mineral Development Hon Ruth Nankabirwa has said the Nyagak III Power dam project in Zombo district will be ready for commissioning by September this year despite extending the construction deadline for another two months.
The 3.5-megawatt dam in the West Nile Sub-region was expected to get an additional 6.6 megawatts upon completion but has now been pushed for the third time in a row citing a funding gap to the main contractor Dott Services Limited.
Ms Nankabirwa during a tour of the construction site over the weekend said the dam within two months from now will be ready for commissioning although this will only be achieved if the government releases Shs28 billion to the contractor.
“I am impressed by the progress of the work despite the fact that as a government, we have not been able to fulfil our part of the grant that we are supposed to release. The developer has continued to find ways of borrowing money and making sure that work does not stall,” Ms Nankabirwa said on Saturday.
She added: “I pledge that I will continue interacting with the Ministry of Finance to make sure that what the President promised when touring the West Nile region to release the remaining money, which is about Shs28 billion, is released.”
Ms Nankabirwa also urged the residents to be patient, saying the government and the contractor are working round the clock to increase power connection in the sub-region.
However, the Padyere County Member of Parliament, Mr Isaac Otimgiu, decried delays in completing the project and urged the contractor to fasten the process of connecting the region to a stable electricity grid.
“We are actually disappointed with the progress with which electricity connection in the region is being done. We have had three deadlines, the issue of the minister coming here without MPs shows the disconnection, we are not happy and we had many questions to ask her,” said Hon Otimgiu.
However, the resident engineer at the power dam site, Mr Vijay Kumar Reddy said when asked about the progress said that critical works at the plant have been done with over 94 per cent completed.
“We have completed construction of the dam and surge works. What is ongoing is hydro and electrical mechanics and we hope we are provided with the funds to complete the works,” he said.
Nyagak III will have an installed capacity of 6.6 MW.
During President Museveni’s four-day tour in West Nile early this year, angry locals booed Minister Nankabirwa as she updated locals about the progress of the power dam project. The locals said they were fed up with empty promises by the Energy ministry.
Locals protested that they have waited for too long for the Nyagak III dam and connection to the national grid from Olwiyo station.
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