By Spy Uganda
Newly re-elected President of Uganda Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has kicked off official duties after today’s morning flying to Tanzania’s capital Dar es Salaam to sign an agreement between the government of Tanzania, Total Limited and its partner, the Chinese state-owned company CNOOC something that will see the investors get equal dividends as per earlier agreement.
President Museveni was received at the Julius Nyerere International Airport (JNIA) by President Samia Suluhu Hassan. This is the second signing after the April 11 signing in Uganda’s capital Kampala, and it will be the last signing agreement popularly known as the Host Government Agreement (HGA).
”The two countries signed the Host Government Agreement, Share Holder Agreement (for the pipeline company) and Tariff agreements,” said Tanzania official.
Uganda discovered crude reserves in the Albertine rift basin in the west of the country near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2006. Government geologists estimated overall reserves at 6 billion barrels.
However, the landlocked East African nation needs a pipeline to transport the crude to international markets.
The planned East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), with a length of 1,445 kilometres (898 miles), will run from the oilfields to Tanzania’s Indian Ocean seaport of Tanga.
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Uganda’s crude is highly viscous, which means it needs to be heated to be kept liquid enough to flow.
Total said EACOP could potentially be the longest electrically heated crude oil pipeline in the world.
The pipeline has met resistance from environmentalists who argue it will threaten ecologically sensitive areas along its route, including wildlife reserves and water catchment areas for Lake Victoria.
About 263 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from around the world have urged the chief executives of 25 banks not to extend loans to fund the pipeline.
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The project, they say, would pose immense threats to local communities, water supplies, and biodiversity in Uganda, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Kenya.
