November 4, 2024
News

Uganda, Kenya Revive Plans of Petroleum Pipeline to Kampala » Business Focus

Uganda, Kenya Revive Plans of Petroleum Pipeline to Kampala » Business Focus

Ruth Nankabirwa, Uganda’s Minister of Energy and Mineral Development

Uganda and Kenya have embarked on the implementation of a 30-year-old petroleum importation plan that would see products moved by pipeline from Eldoret to Kampala.

The Minister of Energy and Mineral Development, Ruth Nankabirwa, and other officials have been meeting their counterparts in Kenya for new talks on the extension of the pipeline to the border.

The proposal to build the pipeline was conceived in 1995 as part of the resolutions of the Joint Co-ordinating Commission (JCC) and a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the two countries.

A feasibility study was done and a report was submitted in 1999 but the project went into limbo.

Under the plan, Kenya would build the line up to the border,  while  Uganda takes it on to Kampala, with the bigger plans involving an extension to Rwanda and Burundi.

About 90 percent of Uganda’s fuel imports come through Kenya and if this plan matures, it will go a long way in fending off the threat of Tanzania’s ports of Dar-es-Salaam and Tanga.

Nankabirwa says meetings in Nairobi are for planning purposes and build on the interaction between Presidents Yoweri Museveni and William Ruto in May when the deal was revived.

Then, the two leaders directed their respective ministers to expedite the process.

This comes barely a month after Uganda started direct fuel imports from the Middle East through logistics company Vitol, cutting out marketing companies in Kenya that are partly blamed for the high prices of petroleum products in Uganda.

All these plans are aimed at ensuring more stable and secure petroleum supplies in Uganda, as well as reducing the price volatility of the products that have always characterized the Uganda fuel market.

The pipeline will extend to Kigali in Rwanda and possibly Bujumbura (Burundi) in the future, with each country responsible for the development of the infrastructure within its borders.

Uganda imports an average of 2.5 billion liters of refined petroleum products a year, worth about 2.5 billion dollars or 9.3 trillion shillings.

-URN

Source link

Related posts

British Chamber Of Commerce Launches In Uganda » Business Focus

BusinessFocus Reporter

Sen. Scott Urges Commerce Department to Investigate Chinese-Owned Temu

Frank Fang

Massive Fire Destroys Property Worth Millions in Apac District

Wivanda

Kamala Harris has to be an avatar not of hope but of give-’em-hell

Erin Aubry Kaplan

Hiltzik: America’s gun culture and a near miss

Michael Hiltzik

Mookie Betts will play in right field, not shortstop, after injury

Mike DiGiovanna

Leave a Comment