The Uganda government has revealed a Shs 342bn (about 90 million Euros) concessional loan from different European countries for the construction of the Shs 418bn Muzizi hydropower plant project.
The project is at River Muzizi which is 6km upstream of Lake Albert in Kibaale District extending to Kabarole, Kyenjojo and Ntoroko districts in western Uganda.
Finance Minister Matia Kasaija last Friday said that power generated from Muzizi will be fed into the national grid via the proposed Hoima Fort portal-Nkenda 220 kilo volts (kV) transmission line.
The multibillion loans were acquired from German Development Bank (Shs 152bn), French Development Agency (Shs 171bn) and an additional grant of Euros 5.24m from KFW as well.
The Uganda government is also expected to inject about Euros 20m (Shs 76bn) to ensure full financing of the project.
Muzizi that is estimated to supply about one million people with clean electricity from hydro power will be developed by Uganda Electricity Generating Company (UEGCL) with expected total capacity of 45MW.
According to UEGCL managing director Harisson Mutekanga, his team is responsible for the development of the 44.7-Megawatt hydro-project whose ground breaking is expected in 2017 and completion in 2019.
Austria-based international consultant, ILF Consulting Engineers, will complete the technical design of the project and support the procurement of a construction company.
