By Herbert Kamoga
Standing on the escarpment which is over 400 meters above the ground on the remote western edge of Uganda, you see the land precipitously dropping down into the western arm of the great rift valley to reveal the immense expanse of Lake Albert and beyond the blue mountains of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The magnificent view reveals the Kingfisher Development Area (KFDA) which is located in Buhuka Parish, Kyangwali Sub County in Kikuube district being developed by China’s China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) Uganda Ltd.
Before Uganda discovered oil in the Albertine Graben in 2006, and has since embarked on establishing effective management procedures to promote its growth and development for the country, this area was previously dominated by fishermen from the Ugandan and DRC sides.
Being in the rift valley area, this was like an island which could not be easily accessible and the dwellers could neither communicate nor trade with their neighbors across the escarpment which is about 2km away since there was no road, and climbing the incline was really a very hard task especially to elderly, women and children.
Over the weekend, with a group of researchers and journalists, we visited the area. According to Dismus Babihamaiso, the LCI chairperson of Nsonga A village, people in the are lacked essential social, health and economic services. There was no any health facility where they could access services and whoever fell sick, and did not get cure from the local herbs could die. The common and major cause of death was bilharzia which Babihamaiso attributed to drinking contaminated lake waters and that malaria was so rampant due to a many breeding areas for mosquitoes. The problem of lack of clean water was sorted thanks to CNOOC’s Buhuka water scheme which is supplying over 10,000 people in the area. The project was constructed under CNOOC’s social responsibility program as a contribution to locals.
Before the construction of the road, to save lives of their beloved ones, residents could make wooden stretchers and hire muscular men to lift the patients climbing the escarpment, to the eastern side where the health facility was. However, many expectant mothers could die, before the muscular men overturned the escarpment, Babihamaiso narrated to us.
The other access route was through Sebagoro landing site, “We could collect money and hire a boat to transport the patients to Sebagoro where they could find other means, to take them to the health center. But there is a distance of about 25 kilo meters, whenever there were strong winds on the lake, the boats could not move, and that was a challenge to expectant mothers who needs urgent attention” another resident Asuman Okello emphasized.
However, things are different now thanks to CNOOC. After being awarded a production license for the Kingfisher Oil Field in 2013, CNOOC started the construction of a 10km road from down the valley through Buhuka hill to Ikamiro village up the escarpment to facilitate the development of the oil field. “By the time we started operating (from) here, we were using the lake to access this place, we used to move on the water for one and half hours, from a place called Mbegu. All the materials / inputs that would be required to support the project, they would come through water from Mbegu up to here” Zakalia Lubega, the Head of Corporate Affairs CNOOC Uganda told us.
“If the community needed anything up the escarpment, they would use a small footpath through this hill, and it used to be about 1.9km from down going up, but one would use almost two hours to walk that short distance, and that was so because there was no any motorable access to this area” Zakalia Lube added.
The road that opened up opportunities for the community was was commissioned in 2016. Lubega says people can now use it to transport merchandize to and from anywhere, before adding that “Businesses including for Bodabodas and other transporters are now thriving. The cost of living was so high for the community because the merchandize would get to the valley at a very high cost, for example a bottle of mineral water which cost only 500 Uganda shilling would be sold at Ug. shs. 2000”
The road also opened market whereby the fishing community can now easily sell their fish to the rest of Uganda especially Kampala which offers the best market for fish in Uganda. This in the long run is has contributed to improved living conditions of people. If well analysed, even before actual production of oil which is expected to start in 2025, residents in Albertine area are already enjoying fruits of Uganda’s young oil sector.
CNOOC Uganda Ltd, which is a subsidiary of the China National Offshore Oil Company Ltd, China’s largest producer of offshore crude oil and natural gas was awarded the production license of Kingfisher Development Area in 2013, and is currently developing the oil field facilities. These include; a central processing facility with a capacity of 40.000 barrels of oil per day, four well pads holding 31 wells (11 injectors and 20 producers), 19km of flowlines to connect the field to the CPF, a forty six (46)km 12 inch feeder pipeline that will move crude from the CPF in Buhuka to the export hub and refinery at Kabale in Hoima District and a lake water abstraction station.
And the cost of developing this field to be able to pump first oil is $3bn (shs. 10 trillion) and this shows an immense commitment by China to support Uganda’s development. CNOOC holds about 28.33% of the shares in the oil project alongside TotalEnergies SE (56.67%) and UNOC (Uganda National Oil Company), 15%.
It is no surprise that President Yoweri Museveni while at celebrations marking the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China at African Hotel in Kampala where he was chief guest, commended the Government of China for supporting Uganda in infrastructure development including railway transport, electricity generation, road construction and telecommunications, among others.
“When I was in China recently, I signed an MoU with the Chinese President to intensify the relationship between Uganda and China as they are Uganda’s genuine friends,” president Museveni noted.
Museveni commended the Communist Party and Government of China for not only fighting colonialism, contributing to the liberation of African countries but also for helping in the improvement of the economies of Africa and supporting the continent’s prosperity through trade in an effort to assist Africa build a strong economic base.
Western Uganda has approximately 6.5 billion barrels of oil reserves, with at least 1.4 billion estimated to be economically recoverable. After announcing the Final Investment Decision (FID) in February this year, Uganda expects to start producing oil in 2025.
Herbert Kamoga is a freelance journalist and a senior fellow at Development Watch Centre
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