Bujagali Dam Construction Delayed By A Few Weeks

Jul 04, 2002

THE planned construction of a $550m Bujagali Power dam in Jinja is likely to delay only briefly, an AES official has said.

By Steven Odeu THE planned construction of a $550m Bujagali Power dam in Jinja is likely to delay only briefly, an AES official has said.This follows new allegations of bribery between AES’s main construction contractor and a Uganda government official. AES Project Manager, Peter O’neill, told The New Vision, that the allegation was not directly linked to the AES Bujagali project but would still briefly delay the process.“Since one of our contractors who is part of the consortium is involved, we asked the World Bank board to wait until we clean up the mess,” O’Neill said. “We will delay for several weeks but certainly not years,” he said.The World Bank suspended consideration of some $370m (about sh666b) loans and guarantees for the planned construction, after being told that AES’s main construction contractor, Veidekke ASA of Oslo allegedly bribed a Uganda government official.The Minister of Energy and Mineral Development, Syda Bbumba, was not available for comment as she was out of the country, in London. Ends

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