Minister of Energy and Mineral Development, Eng. Irene Muloni, is on Thursday expected to commission Isimba Hydro Power project.
The construction of the 183 megawatts project was launched in 2013, with the construction works beginning in 2015. The contractors, China Water and Electrical Company Limited are finalizing the construction process with the dam built and the generating equipment installed.
The Isimba Hydro Power project cost US$567 million with 85 percent funding from the Chinese government and 15 percent from Government of Uganda. The 47 months project period ends on 31 March 2019 and it will be inter-connected to the Bujagali power dam 42 km away in Jinja.
According to a statement released by the Chairperson of the Steering Committee of Isimba Hydro Power, Eng. Badru Kiggundu, the operational handover will take place at Uganda Electricity Generational Company Limited and there will be a defect liability period of two years within which if anything develops, it will be the responsibility of the contractor to rectify.
“During the defect liability period of two years, the contractor, China Water and Electrical Company Limited will construction a bridge across the river linking Kayunga to Kamuli Districts,” said Kiggundu
He said that the bridge will be in two spans; one from Kayunga to Kuva Island and the other from Kuva Island to Kamuli side. These are realistic developments and as a country, this is one of the flagship projects followed by the bigger brother Karuma.
“The project has been realized due to the good bilateral relations between Ugandan and Chinese presidents and said Ugandans should be proud of the project. Let us take advantage of the power that will be poured on the grid not just to light our homes but to establish factories; they don’t have to be very big so that we can realize some revenue out of this added power,” he said.