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The Karuma Hydroelectric Station is initially expected to be completed by 2018, is set for commissioning by September 2024. Currently, four out of six units are operational, with full functionality expected after the sixth unit is completed by the end of 2024. The project aims to meet increasing electricity demand. Once finished, Uganda’s installed electricity capacity is projected to reach 2000 MW.

Karuma Hydroelectric Station, the largest power-generating installation in the country will be ready for commissioning by September 2024, the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development has disclosed. Construction of the 600MW power station located in Kiryandongo District along the River Nile commenced in December 2013.

The price has since soared to 8.183 trillion Shillings, from an initial estimate of USD 1.7 billion, or roughly 6.323 trillion Shillings. Karuma was supposed to be finished by 2018, but there were unheard-of delays and extensions to the project.

The state minister for Energy, Sidronious Okasaai Opolot, clarified that although the dam was supposed to be completed by 2019, it encountered obstacles like vandalism and land acquisition, among other things.

According to Okasaai, four of the six units are currently fully functional and synchronized with the national grid. The hydroelectric facility will function at its best for ten years when the sixth unit is completed by the end of 2024 and the fourth unit is expected to be finished by the end of November.

The completion of the Karuma Dam project, according to Ministry Principal Energy Officer Eng. Emmanuel Sande Nsubuga, will make it easier to supply power to meet the increasing demand for 1 gigawatt of electricity needed by the various industrial players near and along the transmission route.

The Acting Director of Energy Resources in the Ministry, Eng. Cecilia Nakiranda Menya, weighed in on the Karuma Power Project, pointing out that it is one of several ongoing generation plants meant to meet the 52,000 MW of generation capacity needed to propel Uganda’s sustainable economic growth.

Parliament gave its approval to the government’s request in November 2022 to borrow up to US$331.5 million, or roughly 1.242 trillion Shillings, from the International Development Association (IDA) of the World Bank Group to fund the country’s electricity access scale-up project.

Once completed, the country’s installed electricity capacity is projected to hit at least 2000 MW. In October, the Government launched the Energy Policy 2023 to scale up access to electricity for households, refugee and host communities, industrial parks, commercial enterprises, and public institutions, to spur socio-economic transformation, in line with Uganda’s Vision 2040.