A new electricity company is to be established in Uganda to boost energy supply by 1,000 megawatts, announced Hassan Younis the minister of electricity and energy on a visit to Uganda at the head of a delegation of businessmen, according to AlYoum AlSabe.

Uganda is one of the Nile basin countries, with Ethiopia, Rwanda, Tanzania and Kenya, which have had differences with Egypt concerning water distribution since May 2010, when five of the nine Nile Basin countries signed a new deal to share Nile waters, while Sudan and Egypt rejected the deal. The Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi have so far not signed.

The new agreement would reduce Egypt and Sudan’s right to use more than 85 per cent of the water.

Yoweri Museveni and Faiza Abu Naga, the Egyptian minister for international co-operation, have discussed earlier development projects in the Nile Basin, including irrigation.

Naga said her country was ready to contribute to electricity generation in Uganda, adding that the Nile basin countries needed to develop their own hydro-power potential as a prerequisite for development. This new company represents Egyptian efforts to help Uganda allocate its resources, instead of depriving Egypt of its share of its main source of water.

Egyptian companies have shown a willingness to invest in Uganda through the establishment of a hydro-electric station with a capacity of 700 megawatts, in addition to three factories with investments amounting to $100 million.

An Egyptian company revealed it will help Uganda to reduce its electricity loss from 29 per cent to 19 per cent.