Completion of a major oil pipeline in Uganda is now set for 2019/2020, the government has announced.
This comes after the Uganda government adopted the route from Hoima to the port of Tanga in Tanzania two weeks ago.
One of the major issues that emerged with the proposed construction of the pipeline is acquisition of land and since the entire Ugandan corridor is not public land, compensation of land owners and their resettlement will be required.
The number of people to be resettled and compensated plus the size of land required is not yet known because the Ministry of Energy has just started the study of land acquisition.
“This will be determined by the Resettlement Action Plan Studies for the Hoima-Buloba utility corridor. Government procured a consultant, Strategic Friends International, to develop and implement the Resettlement Action Plan for the acquisition of land for this infrastructure corridor,” Mr Ibrahim Kasita, the communications specialist in the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development, told Daily Monitor recently.
According to Mr Kasita, the route in Uganda will go through the districts of Kyankwanzi, Hoima, Kiboga, Wakiso Mityana, Masaka Mpigi and Rakai before crossing into Tanzania.
The government is however currently focused on first acquiring land between Hoima and Buloba in the district of Wakiso. This is because a lot of priority has given to the oil refinery of 60,000 barrel of oil daily capacity in Kabaale, Hoima District.
The refined oil will need a pipeline to a distribution point in Buloba, Wakiso District. The route for the refined oil pipeline is the same that the crude oil pipeline will follow but continue from Buloba to Uganda-Tanzania border.
One of the issues raised about the development of oil in Uganda is the lack of proper infrastructure such as roads to transport the equipment that is needed in the construction of the oil refinery.
