WBG commissioned Acres International to undertake a comprehensive assessment and least-cost analysis of all practical alternatives for meeting Uganda’s future power requirements, results of which were published in the July 2001 draft report “Economic Review of the Bujagali Hydroelectric Project”. The alternatives studied included hydroelectric potential, thermal generational alternatives, as well as a variety of renewable energy technologies. Acres’ analytical process identified a 200 MW hydroelectric plant at Bujagali as the least cost option.

 

AES Nile Power (AESNP) conducted 254 meetings with local residents from affected areas; 61 meetings with representatives of cultural institutions; 354 meetings with local and Ugandan government representatives; 146 meetings with stakeholders; 139 meetings with environmentalists and NGOs; 32 meetings with lenders; and 159 meetings with others, plus 185 consultations with national media. It held stakeholder forums in Washington in June 2000 and July 2001, and in Jinja, Uganda, in June 2001. In-country consultations were “witnessed” by a third-party NGO, InterAid, whose Uganda chapter began as an independent observer of AESNP activities in September 2000.

 

At its full supply level, the project’s reservoir will inundate 80 hectares of land, and 308 hectares of area presently occupied by the Victoria Nile River. This flooding could create concerns of cultural or spiritual effects on the local population. AESNP also conducted a house-by-house consultative process to determine how best to deal with spiritual and cultural matters during all phases of the project, including consultation with professors at Makerere University to identify spiritual custodians. When locations of graves in project-affected areas were known, relatives were consulted.