Major construction works on the Bujagali Hydropower Dam are 30% complete putting the project on course to meet its targeted mid 2011 deadline for full commissioning.
A statement issued by the contractors last week quoted the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development, Kaliisa-Kabagambe, saying the government expects some units to produce power earlier than anticipated.
The Project Director Glenn Gaydar said 70 percent of the project design under Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract were complete and that construction was close to 30 percent complete.
"We have completed excavation of the entire left channel and progressed construction of the power house to such an extent that that related facilities such as control building and machine hall which will house the five 50Mw generating units have begun to take shape," he said.
He said civil works for the gated spillway and the Bujagali substation have started.
"We are working around the clock to ensure that the project remains on course so that 50Mw from Bujagali reaches consumers in quarter four 2010, under the unit by unit commissioning, as projected," Gaydar said.
When fully commissioned, the Bujagali Hydropower project is expected to feed the national grid with an additional 250 Mw of power.
Uganda tightens fishing rules
As the dispute over the fishing village on Migingo Island escalated laast week, Uganda warned that it would adopt a zero-tolerance policy on illegal fishing on Lake Victoria.
State minister for Fisheries, Fred Mukisa, told journalists in Kampala that over-fishing on the lake could wipe out the Mputa (Nile Perch)if left unchecked.He said stocks of Mputa have drop to a mere 370,000 tonnes in 2008 from two million tonnes just three years ago."We are catching immature, juvenile fish so they have no chance to reproduce," Mukisa said, "It is annihilation of the species, the situation is very bad and it must be reversed."
Uganda and Tanzania control 94% of Lake Victoria but Kenya, which controls the remaining 6%, is the leading exporter of fish in the region.
Uganda's fisheries ministry said the price of Nile Perch was rising but earnings still dropped to US$115 million last year from a record of US$143 million in 2005.
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