Tour Operators, managers demand for termination of giveaway Murchison fall

By Ben Musanje

11^th June 2019

Tour operators under their umbrella body the Association of Uganda Tour Operators (AUTO) have demanded President Yoweri Museveni to make a public pronounce on the immediate termination of the planned giveaway of Murchison falls for a hydropower dam construction in Kiryandongo and Nwoya districts.

This comes a few months after environmentalists blocked attempts by a private investor to clear part of Bugoma forest in Hoima District to set up a sugar plantation.

In a June 7, 2019 notice, the power regulator, Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERA) acknowledges receipt of an application from Bonang Power Energy Limited, a South African energy firm for the generation and sale of power from a plant to be set up near Murchison Falls in Kiryandongo and Nwoya districts.

Addressing the media in Kampala, the AUTO Chairman Everest Kayondo said that they have engaged ERA over the planned construction project that sabotages efforts of the tour operation and tourism sector that plays a crucial role of attracting tourists and investment in Uganda.

However, the ERA Spokesperson Julius Wandera says that the project is in the interest of the developer who wants to do a feasibility study on whether power generation dam could be constructed along river Nile in Murchison falls national park.