Badru D. Mulumba
5 September 2002
Kampala — The lead contractor in the Bujagali dam is pulling out and relocating elsewhere.
The Norwegian company, Veidekke, says in its annual report that it is taking its "resources" to other projects.
"We have decided to demobilise the site in Uganda for the time being and transfer these resources to other projects," says Veidekke president's statement carried in its financial report for the second quarter.
The report, dated Aug. 29, says that Veidekke's Special Projects division "recently won a number of major heavy construction contracts in Norway, and the new motorway contract in Sweden is also an example of how this reallocation of resources has opened up new opportunities."
It was not immediately clear what the impact of Veidekke's suspension means for the AES Nile Power's Bujagali dam.
Energy Permanent Secretary Kabagambe-Kaliisa said yesterday he was not yet aware of the development. He said he could therefore not comment.
Veidekke is one of the partners in the proposed Karuma Power Project that were a year ago hired to construct the Bujagali hydropower facility.
The others were Nyborg, Altom Power, GE Energy and Skanska International of Sweden.
The firms were supposed to construct the $550m dam under a locally registered company, the Bujagali Engineering Company (BEC).
Veidekke's suspension of its involvement with Bujagali follows reports the company is investigating the alleged $10,000 which its English subsidiary allegedly paid on Henry Kaijuka's London account in 1989.
Kaijuka has since said that the money was for his son who had done some work for the company.
At the time the money was paid, Kaijuka was minister for Energy.
The discovery of the alleged bribe in July forced the World Bank Executive Board to suspend approval of the project.
Veidekke is one of Scandinavia's leading construction and property development companies. It is the largest in its field in Norway; the fourth largest in Denmark; and in Sweden it has operations in the Gothenburg and Stockholm area.
Veidekke had about 40 engineers at the Bujagali site with several equipment, most of which was ferried in before the much published ground-braking ceremony in March.
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