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Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Eskom Uganda has completed refurbishment works on the Nalubaale main dam, it said on Sept.10.
The Shs11.6billion project undertaken by Sinohydro Corporation involved carrying out repairs on all damaged and cracked surfaces of the dam to cure leakages.
While officiating at the project handover, Thozama Gangi, the managing director, Eskom Uganda said, the main dam refurbishment project was undertaken to increase the structural and functional integrity of the dam, by reducing water ingress which would aggravate the effects of aggregate silica reaction, a concrete cancer that affects hydro civil structures.
By carrying out a successful project, we have made more progress towards curing the cracking that would have affected the power station.
“I thank the project team for doing amazing work through COVID-19 and movement restrictions,” Gangi said.
The Nalubaale main dam, the foundation and backbone of all hydropower activity at the Owen Falls Complex, is a concrete gravity dam equipped with a flood sluiceway to regulate the river flow and a concrete intake dam where the indoor surface power station is located housing ten 18MW generating units.
The dam which forms the control for Lake Victoria, the third largest freshwater body in the world, is about 750m long and has a maximum height of 30m with a road bridge crossing over it.
Leakage through cracks, joints, and other parts of the concrete dam were observed to be increasing over the years and this posed operational and dam safety concerns.
Although grouting work was done in 1999 to arrest some leakages, readings, seepage observations and inspection reports suggested that the previously grouted curtain had deteriorated causing a negative impact on the functional and structural integrity of the 67-year dam hence necessitating further refurbishment.
Gangi said, the company has to date invested Shs150billion (USD 42m) in both Nalubaale and Kiira power stations and plans to invest an additional Shs87billion (USD 23.7 million) by March 2023.
