Uganda: Kibiro Hot Springs Geothermal Project Needs to Overcome Local Opposition

Tuesday, January 7, 2020

Uganda: Kibiro Hot Springs Geothermal Project Needs to Overcome Local Opposition

Bunyoro Kingdom opposes planned geothermal project at Kibiro springs (The Independent)

The Bunyoro Kingdom has opposed a government proposal to establish a geothermal electricity project at Kibiro hot springs in Hoima district. The hot springs, located 35-kilometres North of Hoima town in Kigorobya sub county, form a water stream that meanders into Lake Albert.

The water at the springs is always boiling at 100 degrees and is often used by locals to boil eggs and food like potatoes, cassava and green bananas. It has also been found to contain varying amounts of minerals and chemicals with medicinal value, among them, sodium chloride, potassium chloride, lithium sulphate, calcium sulphate, calcium phosphate, and magnesium chloride.

Last year, the government awarded a 2.3 billion shillings contract to Royal Techno Industries Limited, to drill 16 temperature gradient holes, eight in Kibiro and the rest in Panyimur in Nebbi district to exploit an estimated 1,500 MW of geothermal electricity. According to the government, the project is likely to commence this month and take about two months.

The findings from the gradient wells will help determine the locations for deep exploration wells that will be drilled at a later stage, as part of a project funded by the Geothermal Risk Mitigation Facility of the African Union Commission and German development bank KfW.

But according to the Kingdom officials, the project is likely to destroy the site’s ecosystem and frustrate plans to elevate the springs to a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation-UNESCO heritage site.

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