The construction of the 250 MW Bujagali hydropower dam in Eastern Uganda was funded by The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a private sector lending arm of the World Bank, alongside other development banks. It was developed by The Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED). The process for the construction of the dam started in the late 1990s and was inaugurated in October 2012 by the President of Uganda.

Approximately 8,700 people (about 1,288 households) were affected by the construction of the dam either indirectly or directly. The people who previously stayed around the Bujagali area were promised by the government of Uganda and the dam developers that the dam would come with benefits.

These people had a right to be compensated for the loss of their property. However, up to now some still have unresolved resettlement and compensation issues. This calls for an independent party to monitor the resettlement and a different a mechanism where grievances can be handled at local level if similar future projects are to be implemented in the future. This will help the affected individuals to easily file their grievances and answers without going through the court process which has proved slow and expensive for the local people.

People affected by the project were not involved in the planning or implementation of the resettlement plan, but were rather informed about the choices available once the plan was already in place. They were not given an opportunity to contribute to the drafting of the resettlement plans, but were rather only informed of the two available options. This is a strong indicator of a lack of informed and meaningful consultations from the local communities to be affected by the project, thus the majority were forced to relocate to make way for the construction of the dam against their will.

Source: http://fivas.org/en/frontsak-en/human-rights-lessons-from-the-bujagali-dam-in-uganda/

Back