By Andrew Mwenda
Above is the majestic Isimba Dam that will be producing 182MW of electrify effective January next year. Ten years ago, Uganda was suffering from constant power outages and rationing because we were producing less power than was being demanded. Now we have much more power than can be consumed.
This is a big problem but a good problem. Having electricity we cannot consume means either government has to increase the tariff to over for capacity charges or subsidize power – or do a mixture of the two. Indeed we have built these dams using loans from China, due for commencement of repayment in January 2019.
The challenge for Uganda is to aggressively attract investment in manufacturing, the only way we can consume the power we are going to be generating. Our demand for electricity is 700MW growing at an annual average rate of 10% (70MW). Yet by May next year we shall have 2,000MW of installed capacity. This is a challenge we must address or fail to service these loans as Ethiopia has painfully discovered