BY INNOCENT KIIZA
As the government plans the construction of thousands of the dams worldwide in the coming years and some of these are in the Nile Basin, one of them is Nyamwamba Hydro power Phase 11 dam which is in the final stage of completion.
Nyamwamba Hydro power Phase 11 Dam which is under SEMAS contractors is constructed on the catchment of River Nyamwamba is to generate 7.8 megawatts.
Leonard Omollo, the Human Resource and Administration Manager SEMA, said that if everything goes on well without being interpreted by floods, the dam is expected to be handed to the government as soon as December or January 2022.
Omollo said the dam could have been completed but the disastrous floods that hit the district on 15 July and 16 August this year damaged all bridges and concrete plants making it hard to complete the work within the agreed contractual time.
He mentioned that the two disastrous floods caused them to lose a 5 month period which could have been used to finalize the power house building.
“We lost about five month and the dam could have been finished by June this year, however we reported issues which could have caused the delays to funders and government but as soon as we accomplish the work on the power house we hand the project to the government ”, Omollo said.
Meanwhile the project has transformed the lives of the youth and some community members, this is observed when you stroll on the project site and the Kilembe area, A total of 400 youth have been employed and these include skilled , un skilled and casual laborers.
Norah Mbabazi, who supplies food and tea to workers, sees the Hydro power project as a savior after the relocating of Kilembe Mine Hospital where staff could come for tea and lunch on a daily basis and support her.
She added that her restaurant business base only on contractors of supplying food stuffs to workers than community people who eat in restaurant are few, adding that even others have relocated to major town in Kasese running away from floods
The project has contributed to the revamping of the main roads to Kilembe hills and some fader roads connecting communities amidst floods that ravage the area every rain season.
According to Mr. Omollo, said that on top of the corporate social responsibility, they have donated hospital beds and supported Kilembe Mines Hospital staff, built a new community church for catholic and donated a number of desks to schools around on top of others.
“If wasn’t floods that destroyed most of the things including Kilembe mines Hospital , you could see what we had done to the community , but most of the things were destroyed including the small bridges we had constructed,” Omollo said.
When asked if the Dams are clean energy, Mr. Omollo responded yes adding that they conserve the environment and the ecosystem, whereby the availability of power to every household will save the cutting down of trees for firewood and charcoal.
He added that if the government makes power affordable to everybody, the rate at which forests are being cut down will be reduced and this will also reduce climate change problems caused by global warming.
Dams are a source of renewable energy/ electricity but at the same time contentious due to their effects on the environment and communities where they are constructed if they are not managed well.
