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Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Electricity distributor, Umeme Ltd, upgraded to first class, its readiness for power stability around the venues and hotels earmarked for the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and G77+China summit in Kampala next month.
The summits due to start in just over three weeks will take place at Speak Resort, Munyonyo, and will attract delegates from more than 120 countries, who will be booked in various hotels in and around Kampala.
Apart from the state of transport infrastructure, mainly the roads, there is always worry over the stability of the power supply, as outages are a constant characteristic of Umeme’s services.
This time around, however, Selestino Babungi, the company’s Managing Director, says they have put in place adequate measures to ensure stability around the venues.
He says, for instance, that Speke Resort, the main venue, has been connected to three standby lines, while a fourth line, from Entebbe Substation, would also come in if the other three failed.
Babungi also explains that the major hotels in Kampala and Entebbe have also been connected to multiple lines each to ensure that when one breaks down, there is an immediate alternative.
Giving the end-of-year highlights of the company, the MD says all the lines are now connected to their SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) systems, an automated system used for controlling, monitoring, and analyzing the functionality of the distribution chain.
Babungi says the availability of power is no longer a problem since, currently, generation capacity exceeds demand at about 2000 megawatts to just about 800 megawatts needed.
However, he supports the ongoing government efforts to continue investing in building generation capacity, to prevent any possible excess demand, which would be dangerous for the country, according to him.
He says that with demand growing at 9 percent, more effort is needed to increase generation capacity especially since it takes a long time (seven to 10 years) from signing off the works for a power station to its completion.
Two of the fastest-growing areas where Umeme is putting focus include the Mityana Highway and Kayunga lines where, apart from the demand, even those already connected face unstable supply due to the high numbers.
Babungi says that these are on the agenda for next year’s activities, having completed the stability in Luzira and Ntinda areas, as well as the ongoing improvement of supply lines to Gulu.
In 2023, the company says it invested 130 billion shillings in capital investments in the network, which included the upgrade of the Hoima substation to three times the current capacity to cater to the growing demand due to the oil and gas industry.
Other investments went to access regional referral hospitals to stabilize supplies through the building of lines from the stations to the hospitals.
This, according to Babungi is also aimed at catering to the growing demand of the hospitals especially due to the construction of oxygen plants by the health facilities.
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