INTRODUCTION

1. UGANDA EXPERIENCE WITH LARGEDAMS PAST PRESENTByF.C Oweyegha-AfunaduulaChairmanUganda Nile Discourse Forum ( UNDF)Paper at the Workshop on Dams on the Nile Lessons Learnt and FuturePerspectives Organized by Sudan National Discourse Forum (SNDF)with the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) Capacity Building and Stakeholder Involvement (CBSI)in Khartoum, Sudan, 19-21st January 2008

2. INTRODUCTION • New Belief that large dams are critical to promoting Environmental Security, Democracy, Peace, Justice, Integration, Cooperation, Poverty reduction, Social Development of the poor, Abating Climate Change and Achieving the UN’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

3. INTRODUCTION CONT…….. The New Enlightenment Large Dam Development Dynamics • Terrorism • Organized Crime (e.g. Political corporate Crime) • Shared Responsibility/Understanding • Environmental Sustainability • Dialogue Among Civilisations and Cultures • Complexity and Unity of Knowledge (Consilience)

4. RECENT TRENDS IN REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT DYNAMICS • Nile Basin Initiative Process • East African Community Process • New Partnership for African Development Process • All committed to large (Water and Energy) Infrastructure Development • The Omega plan for Africa 92003) Embracing Globalisation wholesale to catch up with the Developed World. • AU Summit on Agriculture and water (Sirte, Libya, May 2004)

5. RECENT TRENDS CONT….. • African Ministerial Conference on Hydro Power and sustainable Development (Sandton, RSA, March 2006), endorsed need for sustainable Development of Infrastructure and to Address Environmental and Social issues appropriate • Joint Effort by AMCOM, FEMA, AFRECA and AMCEN to implement actions on Environmental issues

6. RECENT TRENDS CONT….. • Seminar for Eastern and Southern African Countries on “Major Water Infrastructure Development in Africa: Balancing Economic, Environmental and Social Aspects for sustainable outcomes” (EAC/SADC/AMCOW/NEPAD, 25-27 July 2007, Mbabane, Swaziland)

7. THE WISE COUNSEL RELATING TO LARGE INFRASTRUCTURE • Development Projects should not come at expense of the poor (ICOLD, 1997) • The people directly affected by a Project should benefit most (ICOLD, 1997) • The Social (and Environmental) Impacts of Large Dams are an integral part of their performance (WCD, 2000) • Large Dams and Modern Irrigation Projects have increased the vulnerability of people especially the poor (World Bank, 2000) • Construction of (Large) Dams in indigenous peoples’ Territories has been a story of broken promises damaged livelihoods drowned cultural sites and spiritual loss (June, 2004)

8. THE COMING LARGE DAM BOOM IN AFRICA • Well over 50 new large Dams were under way in 2006 on major Rivers • Uganda planned to build a Cascade of Dams on the Nile long ago • The quick-fix, fast track Bujagali is under construction (Non-sequential, Ignoring civil society concerns and EIA, SEA Flaws) • Limitation of declining water levels in Lakes and Rivers/Climate change • Corporate Government circle of security • Multi-stakeholder process absent; despised in many dam project processes

9. UGANDA’S EXPERIENCE WITH LARGE DAMS EXPERIENCE WITH OWEN FALLS DAM • Quick fix, fast track • Colonial decision-making process • Technical choices only • No Environmental Impact Assessment • No consideration of social, cultural, political, spiritual, ethical, moral and environmental issues • No consideration of hydrological/climatic futures, poverty reduction, integration , democracy, justice, human rights

10. OWEN FALLS DAM EXPERIENCE CONT….. • Promised 180MW of Electricity but at its prime average production of 160MW • Electricity affordability issue ignored, preferring electricity Accessibility • Only 1% of the population accessed Electricity

11. EXPERIENCE WITH OWEN FALLS EXTENSION DAM • Same as in case of Owen Falls Dam • Acres International of Canada, which had offered technical advise in Owen Falls Dam Process, was found to have engineered data • Acres had also been involved in the great bribery scandal in the Lesotho Highlands Water Project • Water levels in Lake Victoria plunged by more than a Metre soon after the project was commissioned in 2003 • Promised 220 MW but only 40MW realised

12. EXPERIENCE WITH BUJAGAALI DAM A: BUJAGALI 1 • Essentially politically engineered project • Highly Controversial • EIA as symbolic exercise • Initial Construction cost (of $ 500m) Inflated by twice as much (Prayas, 2002) • Investigated by World Bank Inspection Panel for violation of World Bank safeguard policies

13. BUJAGALI I EXPERIENCE CONT….. • Promised 250MW but World Bank and International Finance Corporation found it could only produce 172MW under prevailing environmental conditions then • To be Economically viable 65% of its Electricity would have to be exploited to a ready market. • Acres International involved • Issues of peace, security, justice, human rights etc not integral to its process

14. B: BUJAGALI II • Essentially a Revival of Bujagali I • Highly Controversial • Construction cost well over $ 850m yet promised electricity remained 250MW • Recently investigated by both World Bank and African Development Bank • Quick-Fix, Fast Track, Non-sequential Dam process • EIA and social environmental assessment as exercises in environmental and development symbolism

15. BUJAGALI II EXPERIENCE CONT….. • Estimate of only maximum of 65MW in current Environmental realities • Many limitations such as its design not being integral to the project process and ignoring current Environmental realities

16. EXPERIENCE WITH OTHER LARGE DAMS • Mainly Dam Plans • At least 10 other Dam plans • Karuma to start in 2009; cost of $ 450m for 250MW of Electricity • Kalagala Dam for 450MW but Kalagala Falls touted as offset for Bujagali as well!

17. FUTURE PERSPECTIVES • Uganda Government has chosen large Dam way to Development • Favourable global investment Environment • WB has released $ 360M for Bujagali II • WB has $42b in large infrastructure mainly in Africa • New partnership between World Bank and China

18. FUTURE PERSPECTIVES CONT… • Japan has just announced it has $ 2.2 billion for development in Africa; likely to support large dams • New religion of large infrastructure development as a strategy for abating climate change, reducing poverty, building democracy, achieving MDGs, etc

19. CONCLUDING REMARKS • New Enlightenment on Development • Putting issues of Human Rights, Democracy, Justice, Peace, Security at Centre of Development process • Inter-relating issues of Environment, Human Rights, Democracy, Justice, Peace, Security • Balancing social, Economic, Environmental, Political, Technical, Ethical, Moral and other Aspects in major Infrastructure Development for sustainable outcomes • Making integration, cooperation, conflict resolution, abating climate change, poverty reduction and achieving MDGs critical development choices

20. CONCLUDING REMARKS CONT…. • Dam Safety issues • Complexity • Multi-stakeholder involvement • Environment cultural diversity, spiritual diversity for sustainable development • Development effectiveness and human content • Shared responsibility for more secure World

21. CONCLUDING REMARKS CONT….. • Environmental sustainability as essential in sustainable security, peace, human rights, strengthening rule of Law, justice building, democracy building. • Freedom and Dignity • Understanding/Dialogue of Civilisations/Cultures • From simplicity to complexity • Dialogue between civilisations and cultures

22. CONCLUDING REMARKS CONT….. • CONSTRAINTS - Monolithic choice of large Dams as the only legitimate way to development - Corporate Government circle of secrecy - Disdain for culture and spirituality • Virtually no large Dam is built with the new enlightenment as part of the planning and implementation process

23. CONCLUDING REMARKS CONT….. • Common outcomes of large Dams: Disconnection of Rivers, Mass Destruction, Clash of Civilisations, Terrorism, Ethnic Cleansing, Cultural, Spiritual and Biodiversity Desertification, Conflicts, Climate change, Dam-initiated Floods, Impoverishment of majority poor

24. WAY FORWARD FOR UGANDA • Embrace new enlightenment as a new development and survival strategy • Radical paradigm and attitudinal shift needed to balance environment, development and human needs (i.e. Environment before development) • Respect for Biodiversity, cultural diversity and spiritual diversity as a development concern • More emphasis on small hydros and other alternative energy sources to deliver Electricity to the majority

25. WAY FORWARD FOR UGANDA CONT…. • Target people’s confidence and involvement as critical elements in development • Reduce Presidentialism in large Dam decision-making • Target Democracy, Human Rights, Peace, Security, Justice, Equity • Embrace WCD’s Guidelines on Decision-making in Dams and Development • Embrace Dams and Development Dialogue

26. . THANK YOU