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Uganda launches local content and

training initiative for EACOP

UGANDA THE Ugandan government has teamed up with official roster of authorised local content
the Albertine Graben Oil and Gas Districts providers.
Total is leading work on Association (AGODA), a group that represents PAU has not yet decided how it will deter-
EACOP. the interests of local governments that oversee mine which companies are eligible for the
the districts where oil in located, to establish a training. Betty Namubiru, the agency’s national
local content and training initiative. content manager, said at the meeting earlier this
Representatives of AGODA, the Petroleum month that a consultant would be hired to for-
Authority of Uganda (PAU) and the Ministry of mulate the selection mechanism, carry out the
Energy and Mineral Development gathered in training and facilitate linkages between EACOP
Mubende earlier this month to mark the launch contractors and local firms. PAU will solicit bids
of the programme, which will be carried out for this consultancy contract in a competitive
over a period of two years. Speaking at the event, bidding process, she said.
Ernest Rubondo, PAU’s executive director, said The cost of the consulting services will be
the initiative would help ensure that Ugandan covered by a $500,000 grant from the African
stakeholders played a role in the construction Development Bank (AfDB), and 80% of this
of the East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) sum will be used to build the capacity of Ugan-
along a route from the Lake Albert oilfields to the dan MSMEs, according to the bank’s private sec-
coast of Tanzania. tor operations manager Juliet Byaruhanga, who
The Ugandan section of EACOP is slated to also attended the meeting. “The project we are
pass through 10 districts of the country on its launching is targeted at developing the capacity
way to the Tanzanian border – Hoima, Kikuube, of local Ugandan MSMEs, which will enable
Mubende, Gomba, Kakumiro, Kyankwanzi, them access new market opportunities and build
Rakai, Sembabule, Lwengo and Kyotera. Accord- linkages with larger national, regional and inter-
ing to Rubondo, PAU, the Ministry and AGODA national companies,” she said.
all want to give workers and micro-, small and Byaruhanga noted that the grant would help
medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) from these PAU, the Ministry and AGODA establish con-
districts the opportunity to place a role in this nections between local MSMEs and the con-
major project. tractors hired to construct EACOP. The parties
“This is a project to enable local business hope to see at least 70 small and medium-sized
enterprises [to] benefit from the very big job, Ugandan companies and at least 100 micro-sized
which is going to be done in laying the pipeline businesses sign deals with the pipeline builders,
which is going to be taking Uganda’s crude oil she said. These deals will help create and support
from here to Tanzania,” he was quoted as saying around 500 new jobs, she said.
in a PAU statement. France’s Total will lead work on EACOP,
Accordng to the statement, the partners aim which is expected to carry a price tag of $3.55bn.
to give at least 200 MSMEs the opportunity to When finished, the link will follow a 1,445-km
participate in special training sessions for this path from Hoima, a town in western Uganda, to
purpose. After the training is over, at least 100 Tanga, a port on Tanzania’s coast. It will be able
of these MSMEs will be registered so that they to handle 216,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude
can be included in the Ugandan government’s oil. ™

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