STATE MINISTER FOR ENERY AND MINERAL DEVELOPMENT ECWERU ADVISES MINISTRY OF FINANCE TO HAND OVER KILEMBE MINES AND POWER SCHEME TO ENERGY MINISTRY FOR EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT
The State Minister for Works and Transport Hon. Francis Musa Ecweru has advised the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development to handover Kilembe mines and Kilembe Hydroelectric power scheme to the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development (MEMD) for better management.
Hon. Ecweru while addressing the inter-ministerial meeting in the disaster-prone-border district of Kasese said that the transfer will enable fast redevelopment of both the Mine and hydroelectric power scheme when transferred to the Ministry of Energy which has the right competencies and personnel to handle minerals development in the country .
Hon. Peter Lokeris, the State Minister for Minerals agreed with his cabinet colleague and emphasized need to have components of Kilembe mines and hydro dam shifted to the Ministry of Energy to speed -up the reconstruction process .
Kilembe mines and Kilembe hydro power dam were both destroyed by floods following a heavy downpour which led to flooding of major rivers in Kasese and massive destruction of infrastructure.
Hon. Lokeris expressed confidence that the Energy Ministry has the capacity to access private investors to revamp the hydro power to facilitate production of more power to be fed into the national grid.
He however notes that some are issues affecting reconstruction such as the tripartite agreements which were made between the Government, Kilembe mines and then the Catholic Church.
The Minister said that the tripartite agreements which were made between government of Uganda , Kilembe Mines and the Catholic church will be revisited to enable reconstruction of the infrastructure and that a technical team will come up with action points and commitment from MDAs and Civil Society.
The inter-ministerial team was in Kasese to conduct an on the spot – field inspection of disaster effected areas in Kasese and make an assessment for government action . While in Kasese , they visited affected places such as Lhubiriga River valley, Nyamugasani River valley, Nyamwamba River valley and Mubuku River Valley.
