Museveni hails 2006 decision that transformed Uganda

President Museveni has said in 2006 he reached a point of returning to the bush if parliament didn’t listen to his advice towards financing development projects.Museveni who was commissioning a new 183megawatt power sub-station in Mukono industrial park said in 2006 he put down his foot asking parliament to put more funds in road construction and electricity generation.“The MPs had agreed with donors that money from taxes be used to pay recurrent expenditures and that development budget would come from donors.After the 2006 election which was in darkness, I put my foot down and I was about to return to the bush if they didn’t listen to my advice,”Museveni said.Museveni said he first called cabinet to deliberate on his suggestion, before meeting the NRM parliamentary caucus.“The MPs however read my mind and listened to my advice to put more money on roads, electricity. All these things and projects we talk about now are from that decision. The Mukono-Katosi and Mukono- Kayunga-Njeru roads are because of this decision.”PowerMuseveni said that when the NRM came into power in 1986, Owen Falls dam was supposed to generate 150 megawatts because it had 10 small turbines each producing 15 megawatts.He, however, noted that only four turbines of the 10 were operational and these producing 60 megawatts, adding that they later embarked on repairing the dam.“We started by repairing the old Owen falls dam power station we later named Nalubaale. We repaired it to its original 150 megawatts and also upgraded each turbine from 15 to 18 megawatts to have a total of 180 megawatts. That’s how the economy grew very fast. The 180 megawatts caused a lot of growth in the economy and at one time hit 11% of GDP,” he said.According to Museveni, Uganda now has enough electricity to power factories and for other uses but noted that everything hinges on the 2006 decision he made to have more funding to electricity.About the new sub-stationAccording to the State Minister for Energy, Simon D’Ujanga, the new sub-station will help address the problem of unreliable electricity in the Mukono industrial park.“In the past, power could go off five times a day in the Mukono industrial park but with the new substation, the factories can work throughout the night,”Dujanga said, noting that this is part of government’s efforts of electrification in industrial parks.Valentine Katabira, the deputy CEO for Uganda Electricity Transmission Company Limited said the new 189megawatt power sub-station will convert 132kv to 33kvs that can be used by the industrial park.President Museveni has throughout his campaigns emphasized the role to be played by factories in providing employment to over one million Ugandans.He has told voters that in order to ensure this, government will set up industrial parks in several regions throughout the country.