According to the BBC, "the World Bank is expected to rule on whether it will back a controversial new Lake Victoria dam, at Bujagali in Uganda. Environmentalists say water levels in the lake are dropping and that the project would make the situation worse."
I wish I knew more about this issue. I have been to Bujagali falls (which are more of a rapids), which are cited by environmentalists as of concern, and I would not like to see them lost. However, I think the bigger issue is Lake Victoria. It is not one of the lakes of the Rift Valley, but a relatively shallow lake covering a vast area. Its level changes greatly according to the rainfall from decade to decade and century to century. On the other hand, it is not obvious to me how damming the river outlet of the lake is going to make it drop faster.
Uganda is in desperate need of more electrical generation capacity. While the hydro-electric power may be expensive, the cost of generating power from fossil fuel, given that it is all imported and the transportation infrastructure in Uganda is weak and transportation costs high, are also high and oil prices are going up.
It seems to me that the Ugandan's should decide whether they want to give up Bujagali Falls (and the tourism that it creates at the source of the Nile) in order to obtain more electricity. As far as I could tell, the Ugandan's were pretty much unanimously in favor of the dam.
I am a tree hugger, and I believe that it is not only locals who have concerns over world heritage sites, but I also know that Uganda is very poor, and needs more electrical power desperately for its development.
I hope the World Bank, which is after all a bank, does the right thing -- for the Ugandans!
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