Relief as Arua gets 8MW to power businesses
NALWADDA NSANGI
Two diesel generators of 8 Megawatts were switched on at Ewuata thermal plant in Arua district, in a move to boost power generation in West Nile following constant complaints from consumers. The generators are operated by Electromaxx.
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This emergency power will back up the already existing 3.5 Megawatts of hydro power and is aimed at solving the problem of adverse inconsistency and insufficiency of electricity that has kept the region in darkness for years.
The West Nile sub region was plunged into the intermittent power supply in November last year following the dry spell which affected the water volumes in Nyagak River from which the power is generated. With the new generators, this could change.
"This is good news for the people of West Nile, we are starting to put up some small scale industries, so this is a great intervention by the the government and it should take the credit for it," said Alioni Adria, the Woman MP for Yumbe.
The minister of state for Energy and Mineral Development, Simon D’Ujanga said that they are aware that businesses stalled due to absence of reliable and sufficient power because the generating company was overwhelmed by demand, so they had to look for a temporary solution.
D'Ujanga revealed that government plans to sell some of the extra power to South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
"South Sudan is a member of the East African community and as a policy, there should be interconnection with all East African countries. Indeed we have a plan to take power to Juba, now the one for DRC, they have applied through Mpondwe near Kasese and we are considering them also," he said.
The Ayivu County MP Bernard Atiku, expressed gratitude to the government for the additional 8MW thermal generation power, saying it will effectively supplement the on and off 3.5MW Nyagak power.
Charles Muhumuza, the executive director of Electromaxx Uganda Limited assured the people of West Nile that they will have a 24hr generation of power and this will revive the industries and attract investors.
