Uganda has awarded China International Water and Electric Corporation (CWE) a contract for building a new dam and power plant on the Nile
According to a Reuters report, the Isimba hydropower dam project will be the second such project from Uganda to go to China in less than two months. Last month, Uganda gave China’s Sinohydro Group a contract for the east African nation’s Karuma power project, also on the Nile, at a cost of US$1.65bn.
Uganda’s junior energy minister Simon D'Ujanga said that the 188MW hydro-electric project will be financed by China’s Export-Import Bank, which will give Uganda a loan worth US$500mn on concessional terms.
“We’re looking for funds to develop our infrastructure projects and China has that money,” he told Reuters, adding that the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) had been signed and work on the dam was expected to start in August.
Early in July, a Chinese consortium won a contract to restart production at Uganda's Kilembe copper mines at the foothills of Rwenzori Mountains along the border with the DR Congo.
