The long awaited commissioning of the first 50 MW phase at 250 MW Bujagli hydropower project in Uganda has been pushed again to February 2012 causing a blow to the already threatened economy by acute power shortage.

According to officials at Uganda’s ministry of energy and mineral development, technical challenges met in the course of project completion have forced the commissioning of the project to be delayed.

An official said that there were technical hitches that have required project engineers to change the design to avoid future faults at the turbines. The fixing of the damaged unit could take us more two months and we shall be able to out the first 50MW phase by February next year.

Experts from a subcontractor France based Alstom Hydro are in the country to work through the Christmas period so that we are ready by then. Alstom Hydro was sub contracted under the Italian contractor Salini Hydo Limited to provide electrical and mechanical components for the project.

Uganda earlier this month faced public protest following the 24 hour daily load shedding in major towns in the country that disrupted businesses that depend on electricity to run.

The country depends largely on independent power producer following the fall in generation capacity at the hydro dams following along drought in the country. Uganda’s generation capacity is around 575 MW at peak.

(Filed by Matsiko Mike SteelGuru Uganda correspondent)