As you approach the reservoir side of the great and mighty Bujagali Dam, there’s a gentle calmness of the water, that will easily fool you till you cross over to the other side where a sudden ‘violence’ of the water as it squeezes its self out of the narrow openings of the dam creating a beautiful site of pristine white water. The air is suddenly filled with a sound of gushing water, punctuated by the tiny droplets of atomized water, as it is spewed out by the turbines.
Hidden away, at least from the layman’s eye are 5 turbines the heart of this project each producing a vital 50 MW, altogether, making the much needed 250MW. The massive concrete structure, that seems to be at peace with the River Nile and the engineering clockwork that sits beneath it, does not say a thing about the conflict and controversy that surrounded the dam before its construction.
In its place is instead a story of success, optimism and engineering genius. The 250MW Bujagali Hydro Power Dam had a troubled history, even before construction material arrived on site. Environmentalists partly blamed by the President Museveni among others led to the stalling of the entire project. Then there was a lease of life when the government in 2005 [A Public Private Partnership] awarded the contract to Bujagali Energy Limited (BEL), a consortium including IPS, The Agha Khan Development Network (AKDN), Blackstone and Sithe Global. It was however not until 2007 that construction work started, eventually achieving commercial operations in August 2012. On a guided tour, the consortium members appear rather upbeat about their investment.
“We have been able to provide clean and reliable supply of power to Ugandans. Before Bujagali, there had been a 1.1percent GDP loss as well as a need for subsidies. We’ve been able to lead to increased tax revenues for the government, increased manufacturing and also local businesses have been given the confidence to increase production,
