An aerial view of Mbale City, East of the country (PHOTO/Courtesy) MBALE – Cities play a very important role in shaping the livelihoods of many people as more than half of the global population lives in urban centres.
Every city needs stable and reliable electricity to feed its ever-growing industrial, commercial and domestic needs. Mbale City, a home to 5 million people, is not any different.
Mbale and Elgon subregion’s electricity demand averages 20MW, but given the recent elevation to City status, the Government’s push for industrialization and the establishment of the Mbale Industrial Park, demand for power is expected to surge.
For this reason, power distributor Umeme has invested $15.2m (about Ugx55.7b) into two big power projects to boost electricity supply quality and reliability in the Mbale City and the Elgon subregion.
The Umeme Elgon subregion covers Mbale City, Bulambuli, Manafwa, Bubulo, Butaleja, Kibuku, Pallisa, Bukedea, Kumi, Soroti and Kapchorwa.
The two projects are the $9.23m (about Ugx34b) Siti 2 Project and the $5.99m (about Uugx22b) Mbale Industrial Park Project. Once complete, the two projects will grow Mbale’s electricity supply from the current 20MW to 61MW, a 205% growth.
“As Mbale City is growing, we also want to grow with them by investing in the network to provide reliable power but also meet the increasing demand,” Selestino Babungi, Umeme’s Managing Director explains.
The Siti 2 Project includes a 125-kilometre 33kV single circuit double poles line, evacuating power from the 16.5MW Siti 2 Hydro Power Project on River Siti in Bukwo District to Umeme’s sub-station in Mbale.
The substation is also being expanded with a new switching station and plant house. Umeme is also installing capacitor banks to stabilise power especially for industrial and commercial production.
The Mbale Industrial Park Project consists of a 75km power line, bringing up to 25MW from Uganda Electricity Transmission Company Limited’s (UETCL) substation in Tororo to the Mbale Industrial Park. Umeme is also building 10km of integration distribution lines within the park to cater for this supply. To stabilise the power for industrial purposes, Umeme is also constructing a switching station and plant house at the Industrial Park.
“The Mbale projects are one of our major investments for 2020 in support of Government’s efforts to attract Industries and jobs in the eastern region. Having been granted City status, we expect demand in Mbale City and the surrounding areas to grow considerably fast. The industrial park alone is expected to consume 220MW of power […]