Karuma villagers (in Uganda) want dam halted

Karuma villagers want dam halted

The Observer (Uganda)
By Edward Ssekika, 9 July 2013
http://www.observer.ug/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=26320:karuma-villagers-want-dam-halted&catid=79:businesstopstories&Itemid=68

After winning the contract for the construction of Karuma hydropower
project, Chinese firm Sinohydro promised to start work within two weeks.

However, this might not be possible, following fresh wrangles that
threaten to delay the project. Besides compensation wrangles, a rival
Chinese company, China International Water and Electric Corporation
(CWE), has gone to court to challenge the award of the contract to
Synohydro.

The families affected by the project have petitioned the Electricity
Disputes Tribunal, pursuant to the Electricity Act, seeking to halt
construction of the dam until compensation rates have been agreed on.

Once completed in seven years' time, the dam is expected to spur
economic growth.

In a representative suit between William Ogik versus Attorney General,
more than 54 project-affected families are contesting the "meagre"
compensation rates offered. According to the complainants, the rates are
inconsistent with inflation trends in the country.

Ogik is one of the residents of Awoo and Diima villages, Mutunda
sub-county, Kiryandongo district, who must pave way for the construction
of the 600MW hydropower project. The Karuma dam project is to displace
more than 400 families in the four villages of Karuma, Awoo, Nora, and
Akurudia in Kiryandongo district.

"We want the project but we need to be reasonably compensated. We want
the right value for our property," Ogik told The Observer after
appearing before the tribunal.

Ogik wants the tribunal to order for the compensation rates to be
reviewed upwards, describing what is being offered as "too low and
doesn�t take into account the current market value of our property."

According to the chief government valuer, a mature local mango tree is
worth Shs 65,000, but the locals say Shs 260,000 would be more
appropriate. When the affected person�s own proposed rates were
rejected, a legal challenge was mounted.

"I take this opportunity on behalf of 54 other project affected people
to lodge my complaint with your office to intervene and ensure that
project developers of Karuma stop cheating us by using old and outdated
low compensation rates," Ogik's petition to the tribunal reads in part.

The affected people want the tribunal to accept their proposed rates and
compel the developers to use them as the basis for compensation,
something that the Attorney General disputes.

"We ask that the project should be stopped until the issues of
compensation rates are settled," Ogik writes in his petition.

The compensation case has been adjourned to July 30, 2013, after the
attorney general asked for more time to allocate the case to a new
lawyer. Martin Mwambutsya, a state attorney, told the tribunal that
Edson Karuhanga, who was handling the case on behalf of the attorney
general, has since left his job. Mwambutsya, therefore, needed time to
acquaint himself with the case.

"I'm distressed, the attorney general keeps on seeking for adjournment,"
Ogik complained.

Dickens Kamugisha, Chief Executive Officer of African Institute for
Energy Governance (AFIEGO), argued that seeking for adjournments is a
trick that government uses to frustrate petitioners such that they can
give up on their demands.

But Ogik says the complainants are determined to block the project if
compensation is not addressed.
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