Kampala — The governments of Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania must accelerate the implementation of the of East African Power Master Plan, in part to stem the grinding electricity shortage across the region that is depressing it's economy, the EAC Council of Ministers have said.

At their 11th meeting in Arusha, Tanzania, the three ministers of Forign Affairs (Uganda's Sam Kutesa and his counterparts from Kenya and Tanzania) proposed that a Standing Committee on power, comprising six members from each of the three countries, be formed to centrally coordinate the work and specifically keep adequate momentum in the implementation process.

The plan involves regional harmonisation of investment strategies in energy sector, creation of a regional power pool, joint conservation of energy resources, pursuit of alterative energy sources and coordination of efforts to develop better generation, transmission and distribution infrastructures that are supposed to help more people access the grid.

Broader access to power is also an important component in efforts to achieve a set of minimum human welfare standards set by the United Nations in 2000-the so called Millennium Development Goals, (MDGs).

"Funds for the plan of action will be mobilised through the partner states and contributions and grants from development partners," said a press release issued at the end of the meeting on April 3.

Execution of the master plan, it said, will cost an estimated $1.6 million (about Shs..) and according to a tentative timeline, work is supposed to commence this year and proceed through 2010.

The ministers also requested the partner states to "develop a strategy for accelerated provision of sustainable modern energy services to serve rural, urban and peri-urban poor to meet the MDGs."

The regional focus on power is coming against a crisis as the three countries grapple with the impact of a searing draught; a drastic decline in Lake Victoria water levels that subsequently lowered the hydro power production capacity in the all the three countries.

In Uganda, the output at the two dams of Kiira and Nalubaale collapsed from about 240MW to 135MW, plunging the country in a nightmare of frequent blackouts and forcing manufacturing firms to halve their normal production levels. The East African Community Secretariat was directed to develop "investment and action programmes" that would immediately halt the excessive loss of water in Lake Victoria, mitigate the impact environmental degradation and promote a long-term sustainable management of the lake.

Uganda was specifically asked to hasten its plan to check the alleged prodigious release of water into the Nile at Jinja dams.

On February 9, the US-based International Rivers Network accused the country of secretly draining the lake-the shoreline has receded by 1.2 meters marking the shallowest level since 1951-to sustain it's power supply.

At the meeting, the ministers mooted a proposal to initiate a new EAC policy that would govern the release of Water at Jinja.

As part of a long-term plan to master the community's unending energy crisis, the ministers underlined the need for national innovation and strategising to broaden the mix of energy sources and gradually cutback dependency on hydropower.