Developer blocks building of electricity lines
Dr Emmanuel Otala, the chairperson of the Environment and Natural Resources Committee of Parliament (3rd left), and other MPs carry out a fact-finding mission at Aswa Dam last week. PHOTO | TOBBIAS JOLLY OWINY
A private developer, the Banuti Ranchers, has blocked the Uganda Electricity Transmission Company Limited (UETCL) from constructing an electricity transmission line inside Aswa Ranch.
UETCL says they have failed to seek a consensus with the Banuti Ranchers to access a 14km stretch of land inside the ranch as a corridor to construct the first 45 electricity pylons from the Aswa Hydropower Station.
Aswa Hydropower Station was commissioned in 2019 without a transmission line to evacuate the generated electricity.
The constriction of the transmission line could not kick off due to delays by the government in securing finances. The funds were realised in August 2021 after a €40 million (about Shs156.2b) loan was secured from the KFW Bank.
Mr William Nkemba, the UETCL’s manager for project implementation, said they have failed to evacuate electricity generated from Aswa Dam after failing to secure access in the ranch.
Whereas up to 96 percent of project-affected persons have been compensated, Mr Nkemba said they have failed to establish the true owner of the land inside the ranch following claims by three different entities.
He said Aswa Ranch has a conflict between Uganda Livestock Industries (ULI), National Animal Genetic Resources Centre and Data Bank (NAGRIC&DB) and Banuti Ranchers.
“While the land is still under ULC and NAGRIC&DB, the Banuti Ranchers who possess a presidential directive for the lease of the entire area are occupying the land and have denied us access to build the transmission line,” Mr Nkemba said.
“We have appealed to the parties to allow us carry on with the works as they sort their disputes,” he added.
Mr Edward Mutesa, the manager for land acquisition at UETCL, said although Banuti Ranchers served them with a copy of the presidential directive (which was verified to be genuine), they have no lease agreement, a deed, or any other document from the Uganda Land Commission.
“You have this person without a formal leave, called Banuti Ranchers owned by a person called Barnabas Tinkasimire Nuwamanya, who has blocked us when we wrote to the ULS to give us the records of the person with the proper lease, they never responded,” Mr Mutesa said.
Our persistent efforts to get a comment from Banuti Ranchers were futile by press time yesterday.
Probe
The Parliamentary Committee on Environment and Natural Resources have said they are set to investigate the grounds under which Banuti Ranchers acquired such a huge chunk of land inside the ranch and have blocked the government from building the electricity line.
Last week, during a fact-finding visit to the dam, the MPs led by Dr Emmanuel Otala established that UETCL has since 2019 been denied access to the land inside Aswa Ranch.
“We are generating a report which will inform the government on the decisions to take, ‘’ Mr Fredrick Angura, a committee member, said.
Besides the failure to access a transmission corridor through the ranch, Mr Nkemba explained that the construction of the transmission line was delayed due to hindrances caused by Covid-19.
The construction of the transmission line is being undertaken by Kaplan & Turbo and is expected to last for 18 months until March 2023.
