Page 13 - DMEA Week 03 2021

DMEA POLICY DMEA

Kenyan MPs to seek update on

Uganda’s Entebbe terminal

UGANDA THE Kenyan National Assembly’s Public did not have any intention of setting up the oil
Investments Committee (PIC) is gearing up jetty, then ours automatically becomes an impru-
The Kenyan National to seek more information about Uganda’s dent and reckless investment,” he added.
Assembly’s Public plans for completing its part of a planned He stressed, though, that his committee was
Investments Committee network of fuel terminals on the coast of not yet in a position to determine whether the
(PIC) is gearing up to Lake Victoria. Kenyan facility ought to be shuttered. “It’s still
seek more information According to Abdulswamad Sharif, the chair- too early to call the Kisumu oil jetty a white ele-
about Uganda’s plans man of the committee, said at the weekend that phant venture,” he remarked.
for completing its part legislators intended to contact the Ugandan gov- Kenya and Uganda began working to estab-
of a planned network ernment with requests for more details about the lish an export corridor for petroleum products
of fuel terminals on the terminal project. The PIC will work “through the across Lake Victoria in 2013. KPC then began
coast of Lake Victoria. normal diplomatic communication channel” to construction of the Kisumu terminal in May
inquire as to whether Uganda is committed to 2017 and finished work in March 2018. To date,
building and completing the facility in Kisumu, the facility has never delivered fuel to Entebbe
he said. by barge, as it was intended to do. Ugandan offi-
Sharif explained that committee members cials had hoped to launch the Entebbe terminal
were concerned because Uganda had not yet in January 2021, but they said last year that the
upheld its pledge to build a terminal in Entebbe deadline would have to be postponed because
to take delivery of fuel shipments from the Ken- of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. It is
yan port of Kisumu. So far, he noted, state-con- not yet clear when the Ugandan facility will be
trolled Kenya Pipeline Co. (KPC) has only been completed.
able to make limited use of its own terminal in Despite the setbacks and delays, KPC has
Kisumu because the corresponding facility on already begun using a specialised ship to trans-
the Ugandan side is not ready. port rail tankers full of fuel across Lake Victo-
In the meantime, he complained, Kenya’s ria to destinations in Tanzania and Uganda. In
government must bear the expense of maintain- 2019, the company conducted a dry-run test of
ing the Kisumu terminal. These costs amount to this route, as well as a wet-run test that involved
hundreds of Kenyan shillings each year, he said. the transfer of petroleum products from Kisumu
“If the Ugandan government tells us that it to the Ugandan port of Jinja. ™

Week 03 21•January•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P13