With construction of the oil refinery in Hoima District, western Uganda, set to commence anytime, about 93 families in the location for the mega regional infrastructure project are stuck after the Ministry of Energy abandoned them in the area, a new report has revealed.

The report titled: “Acquisition of Land for the Oil Refinery: Tracking Progress in Resettling Project-Affected Persons who opted for land for land compensation” issued by Global Rights Alert, indicates the ministry has failed to come up with a clear framework of relocating the families.

“The failure of government to meet the deadlines it set for itself in the RAP (Resettlement Action Plan) implementation schedules and monitoring and evaluation plan and the way it informs and communicates to the PAPs (Project Affected Persons) that opted for land for land compensation has bred anxiety and uncertainty over whether it can still be relied on it to fulfill its original commitments,” the report reads in part.

Initially, 27 families had opted for land for land relocation, but the number grew to 93 after the cash compensation became burdensome.

According to testimonies of residents, the report states that government has neglected the group since majority who opted for cash compensation have since vacated.

Ms Winfred Ngabiirwe, the global rights executive director, said the families are now living at their own peril, with most social infrastructure non-functional since most PAPs have already migrated from the refinery construction site.

“The process of relocating these families was supposed to take less than one year, however the worry now is that they could be completely abandoned until they decide on their own to go elsewhere when construction starts,” Ms Ngabiirwe said.

The ministry through the Petroleum Directorate (formerly Petroleum Exploration and Production Department-PEPD) in 2012 started a process to pave way for construction of the refinery.

The refinery will be co-owned 60 per cent by private investors and 40 per cent by the East African Community members.

However, the ministry claims they have secured some 533 acres of land for the relocation of the families.

The spokesperson of the refinery project, Mr Bashir Hangi, said the report paints a “bad picture” and does not capture the most critical up to date information.

“We have a very clear plan of relocating those families and we shared it with the report authors. We bought land, secured a physical plan from the Ministry of Lands and are in process of starting to construct the houses...,” Mr Hangi said.

-Daily Monitor