THE chief government valuer, A.J Bwiragura, has blamed the public for obstructing work on the Bujagali transmission line.
Bwiragura said some residents had refused to leave the areas where the power lines have to pass, demanding large sums of money and material compensations which was not budgeted for by the Government.
Bwiragura made the remarks at a meeting with stakeholders on the dam’s progress at Hotel Africana, Kampala over the weekend.
There are 4,644 households along this line that need to be catered for. About 89% of these have been cleared, while the rest are still a problem, he said.
“We have about 134 cases around Kampala who are still a problem to this project. They want more than what their property is worth, thus posing a big challenge to the Government,” Bwiragura said.
Some individuals were using their positions and security organs to frustrate the exercise, he said, while others build on areas already secured.
Bwiragura said they employed a private valuer to assess the value of the land.
“Government is willing to pay a fair value for the land. They should allow this project to go on peacefully since they are the beneficiaries,” he said.
The 220km transmission line is expected to start from Jinja, through Mukono, Kawanda sub-station, Kampala and Mutundwe sub-station.
The Uganda Electricity Transmission Company Limited is managing the construction of the line which is expected to be completed by July 2010.
About the completion of the Bujagali hydro power dam, the deputy construction manager, Kenneth Kaheru, said over 50% of the work was covered.
“Over 72% of the work on the switch yard is done and most of the work at the power house is completed. We expect the work on the transmission line to be completed by the middle of 2010,” Kaheru said.
He said once the dam is completed, power tariffs would reduce by 6.5% or 7%.
Kaheru said the 250MW dam, which would be Uganda’s largest infrastructure investment, is expected to cost $860m (about sh17.2b).
