Kampala — LONSDALE, a Canadian company, is interested in developing Karuma Power Project. President Yoweri Museveni on Saturday held a meeting with a delegation from the company.

The delegation, led by company chief, Slutsky Samuel, said their main aim was to produce cheap and affordable electricity, according to a statement released by State House yesterday.

Lonsdale is a co-investor with Tacua, another Canadian-based company, whose chief, Peter Baker Homek, also attended the meeting.

Energy and mineral resources minister Hillary Onek, micro-finance state minister Ruth Nankabirwa and state minister for energy Simon D'Ujanga also attended.

Earlier this year, Museveni told an investment conference in Zambia that Uganda was planning a $1.2b power dam at Karuma.

On a tour of northern Uganda recently, D'Ujanga advised Oyam district to gazette industrial land as construction work on the dam begins.

He said this would ensure enough land for industrial development.

D'Ujanga also said the Government had secured $300m (about sh594b) for the project, adding that construction would start before the end of this year. He pointed out that construction had been delayed by the re-designing of the initial plan.

The Government decided to implement the project after Norpak, a Norwegian firm, withdrew due to the current global crunch, he said.

Uganda started facing a power supply shortage in the 1990's due to low investment in the energy sector.

The decline in the Lake Victoria water levels, which feed the two hydropower facilities in Jinja, also affected power generation.