News
EA to pool funds for new railway line
Posted Monday, May 3 2010 at 00:00
President Museveni said the cost of electricity was five times more expensive than in China.
“In East Africa a unit of power in kilowatts is US cents 15 yet in China it is only US cents 3. Transport is US cents 12 per kilometre per tonne and in China it is US cents 1-2 only. These (railway and power) form the core of a renaissance of Africa,” President Museveni said.
To mitigate the power supply gap President Museveni said Uganda had plans to generate 3,800MW in the next five years and 17,000MW in the next 15 years. Rwanda has already started generating power from its methane gas deposits in Lake Kivu.
The Secretariat has been studying a proposal that independent power producers should be permitted to start generation.
The EAC Director of Infrastructure Phillip Wambugu said EAC would link inland waterways ports with transport corridors in the region. They will also introduce mass transit systems to decongest cities and re-align economic zones according to planned infrastructure.
A total of $74 billion was announced at the Kampala meeting to rehabilitate railways, roads and water systems.
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