On Tuesday construction on the dam began. The dam is being built about 80 kilometers from the capital Kampala at a cost of $799 million USD. The project is being sponsored by Bujagali Energy Limited and its main purpose is to provide power to a country which has according to the organization suffered from a lack of electricity. Included in the project are new transmission lines with most leading to the capital of Kampala. Also involved in the project is the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development
President Yoweri Museveni was quoted as saying: "To avert the power shortages, emergency thermal plants have been installed, (but) you cannot imagine the loss caused by huge subsidies to bring down power tariffs," "We must anticipate demand and produce electricity to always be ahead of demand,"
The project is not without environmental controversy, as is often the case with such projects. Uganda generates almost all of its energy from hydro power on the Nile River. The source of the lake Victoria has been recently suffering from lower water levels.
For additional information:
http://www.nemaug.org/bujagali.php
