The Isimba Power Project is on course to be delivered with minimal cost overruns, within the planned timeframe of 40 months and with expected output of 183 megawatts, the management of the Uganda Electricity Generation Company has said.
Dr. Stephen Isabalijja the Chairman of the electricity generation entity said that since works were launched in October 2013, a lot of progress has been made, surmounting earlier challenges faced including non-payment of its part of the contribution. “The Government has sent in its cheque, so we are on course to deliver as per plan,” he told the visiting members of the UEGCL Board who were on a monitoring mission to the site.
The works on Uganda’s fourth largest hydropower dam are being undertaken by China International Water and Electric (CWE) with 85 per cent financing from the China Export and Import (Exim) Bank and 15 per cent from the Government of Uganda. The construction works for the dam are expected to cost US$ 556 million, while construction of the transmission line to Bujagali is expected to cost US$117 million. In addition to construction, CWE will provide training to Ugandans while over 5,000 jobs-both permanent and temporal are expected to be created by the project..
The dam is located in Busaana sub-county, Kayunga district, at Koova Island, 40km downstream from the Bujagali hydro power plant. The Isimba Falls project will see the construction of four 45.8MW Kaplan hydro turbines and a 132kV power transmission line connecting the project to Bujagali.
Covering a total of 2,867.6 acres of land, the project has caused displacements, which is costing several million dollars to compensate and resettle the people displaced by the project.
