By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Uganda’s largest electricity generation plant, financed with loan from China and built on the River Nile at the cost of $1.7 billion, has been commissioned for public use.
The 600 megawatt (MW) Karuma Hydropower Project (KHP), constructed by Sinohydro Corporation was commissioned on Thursday.
It comes 11 years after the construction commenced in 2013. Multiple completion deadlines were missed due to logistical challenges including COVID-19, Energy Minister Ruth Nankabirwa said.
The project increases the East African country’s generation capacity to slightly above 2000 MW.
At the commissioning ceremony in Kiryandogo in northern Uganda, Chinese Ambassador Zhang Lizhong described the plant as a “flagship project of China-Uganda cooperation.”
The plant would “connect millions of households with affordable electricity and contribute to sustainable clean energy for east African development”, the Chinese envoy stated.
Uganda offers electricity supply to neighbouring countries, including Rwanda, Tanzania and Kenya.
A 400 kV transmission line spanning 248 kilometres to carry the power was also launched on Thursday.
Authorities said plans are also ongoing to construct a $180 million transmission line to allow Uganda to export power to South Sudan.
China’s Exim Bank provided a $1.4 billion loan, accounting for 85% of the project’s cost, while the government provided the remaining funding.
President Yoweri Museveni said his government aimed to ensure access to “cheap, reliable, affordable electricity.”
Karuma is the second hydropower power plant China has financed in Uganda in recent years.
In 2019, Uganda commissioned the 188 MW, $500 million Isimba hydropower dam, also on the Nile river, also funded with a loan from China.
It was constructed by China’s China International Water and Electric Corporation (CWE).
