|
|
Uganda: French Firm Wins Bujagali Equipment Deal
 |
 |
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
New Vision (Kampala)
25 March 2008
Posted to the web 26 March 2008
Ibrahim Kasita
Kampala
ALSTOM Hydro, the joint venture between French firms Alstom and Bouygues, is to supply hydro and electro-mechanical equipment worth euro 160m (about sh432b) for the Bujagali hydropower project.
Under the turnkey contract signed with Italian civil works constructor, Salini, Alstom would provide five turbine-generator units, control and protection systems and balance of plant.
The equipment would be supplied by the group's facilities in France, Switzerland and India.
The project is scheduled to be completed by 2011.
Philippe Cochet, the Alstom president, said: "This contract reinforces Alstom's presence in Africa where we have been building hydro plants for decades.
"Our successes there are due to our offer of integrated solutions and advanced technology."
The Bujagali run-of-river scheme would re-use the water released from the Nalubaale and Kiira upstream hydro plants, which are the country's only electricity generating facilities.
Once commissioned, Bujagali is expected to relieve Uganda's acute power shortage, which has affected the growth rates.
The project is a public-private partnership between the Government and Bujagali Energy, a consortium of private sponsors.
Construction of the $868m (about sh1,484b) hydro-power project has continued smoothly despite Kenya's post-election violence.
There were fears that the violence in Kenya would affect the supply of fuel and construction equipment to the 250MW project.
However, the recent visit to the construction site in Jinja indicated that works had progressed well.
Salini, the project contractor, has also erected a production and crushing plant, access roads and is blasting sediment rocks on the riverbed.
Excavation works on a concrete structure for the powerhouse have started on the dry riverbed on the River Nile channel to the left side of Dumbell Island.
The powerhouse is where generators that will convert the fast-flowing water into electricity will be installed.
There will be five generators designed for the project. A project manager said special gates would be left after the powerhouse is constructed to allow water flow as they close the other side of the river to empty it to allow works to go on.
|
Advanced works on the east bank of River Nile had started as the contractor was using local and foreign expertise. Over 500 local people have been recruited.
Experts said construction was moving fast because there were incentives to the contractors to finish before 2011.
At the same time, there are heavy penalties for the contractor if he delays. Electricity tariffs are expected to drastically fall when the Bujagali project is completed.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Copyright © 2008 New Vision. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Make allAfrica.com your home page | RSS Feed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top | Site Guide | Who We Are | Advertising | Search | Subscribe | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Questions or Comments? Contact us. Read our Privacy Statement. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
