The World Bank has awarded Uganda a US$140m loan for the oil and gas production sector. The funds will be used to upgrade facilities in the Albertine region to meet the infrastructure and skills needed for oil and gas production.
The funds will be used for infrastructure development, building of a new school for training oil and gas professionals, offering scholarships, and procuring international accreditation for oil and gas technical schools. A new technical school is to be built in Nwoya.
Education minister Jessica Alupo indicated that US$28m will be used to support the development of skilled personnel for the oil and gas sector, while the rest of the money will be used to upgrade infrastructure.
Oil and Gas Exploration activities in the Albertine Graben (AG) of Uganda have had a 90% drilling success rate, with 58 of the 64 exploration and appraisal wells drilled to date encountering oil and/or gas.
The government has said that it will use part of the money set aside for education in sponsoring 600 students from the Albertine region to undertake oil and gas courses starting from next year. Three technical schools are in the process of being upgraded to meet international standards.
Uganda is hoping to commence oil production by 2017.
