(Uganda) White water torrent to die as nation gambles on huge Nile dam project - Guardian

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

White water torrent to die as nation gambles on huge Nile dam project

Climate change fears dampen hopes of power from
tourist attraction

Xan Rice in Bujagali Falls
Thursday May 31, 2007
The Guardian

Six miles north of Lake Victoria, the Nile awakens, exploding into a
cauldron of white water known as the Bujagali Falls. Offering some
of the world's most spectacular rafting, it is one of Uganda's top
attractions. Soon it will be destroyed.

After 13 years of seeing plans delayed by corruption allegations,
financial strife, obdurate spirits and opposition from environmental
groups, Uganda last week authorised an international consortium to
begin a 30-metre-high dam across the Nile just below Bujagali Falls.

The $800m (£400m) hydropower project - the biggest-ever foreign
investment in east Africa - will flood the rapids and, according to
critics, leave the country dangerously exposed to an energy crisis
if predictions of global warming are realised. But the government
and the World Bank, which is backing the project with $360m in
loans and guarantees, insist that it is crucial to the country's
development. "When the dam is finished we will be rid of the
darkness," said Daudi Migereko, Uganda's energy minister, at the
ceremony to approve construction.

-snip-

But huge hydropower schemes come with similar risks. As the
World Commission on Dams - a joint project of the World Bank and
the World Conservation Union - reported in 2000, the social,
environmental and financial cost of big dams often outweigh
benefits. Merowe, which has displaced 50,000 people and
submerged a rich archeological site, is a case in point. Bujagali,
according to environmentalists such as Lori Pottinger, Africa
director at the US-based International Rivers Network, is another.
"Uganda is making itself wholly dependent on a stretch of river
for its electricity," she said. "No northern country would accept
such a situation."

-snip-

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uganda/Story/0,,2091818,00.html

[pansypoo53219]

1. gee, the world bank.

more corporate feeding at the expense of the planet.

[Dead_Parrot]

3. Yeah...

You'd think the Ugandans would be happy using as much energy in a year as most Americans use in a day. The impertinence of them, wanting more!.

Clearly, the "fact" that they get 99.6% of their electricity from hydro is just a ruse to hide how insanely rich they all are.

I bet they all drive hummers, too.

[XemaSab]

2. White water rafting for wealthy white people

versus clean energy for one of the world's poorest countries.

[phantom power]

4. I sure wish they'd build a nuclear plant. Get their energy and save the river.

[AlecBGreen]

5. it IS risky

to get most of your energy from one source, especially a source which will change in unpredictable ways due to climate change. Still, when you have as few options as they do, who are we to judge?