By P. Sarojini
UGANDA (CWBN)_ The Ugandan government has declared officially that the Final Investment Decision on East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) project will be signed in the first quarter of 2021 and will create around 10,000 fresh jobs for the youth in the country. Following a fatal impact of the pandemic on the country’s economy and continuous lockdown and shooting unemployment rate in the country, this pipeline project is set to revive the economy simultaneously employing the youth and skilled workers in the country.
The East Africa crude oil pipeline stretches between Uganda and Tanzania. The pipeline starts from the future Kabaale Industrial Park in the Hoima district of Uganda and terminates at the Chongoleani peninsula near the Tanga Port in Tanzania and is approximately 1,443 km long. The section of the pipeline in the Ugandan region will be approximately 296km-long and runs across 10 districts and 25 sub-counties. The section of the pipeline in the Tanzanian region will be approximately 1,147 km long and comprises 80% of the total length and runs across 8 regions and 25 districts.
During the sixth edition of the East African Oil and Gas Summit, Uganda’s Minister for Energy and Mineral Development Mary Goretti Kitutut made this declaration. The Minister said that the upcoming pipeline project is set to commence earlier next year and will create around 10,000 new jobs to the youth and skilled workers in the country. The government has put in place some capacity development programs to train the workers for the upcoming project and this will enable many to attend such training programs.
Mary Goretti Kitutut explained, “Capacity building is managed by petroleum of Uganda. Ugandans are not left behind. The local people are very excited, and they are all preparing to see that they participate as there are lots of areas in the industry where they can get involved”. She referred to capacity building as a continuous process and that some of the employees are attending training programs abroad and capacity has been built over time. She said that the government has some capacity development program with Uganda National Oil Company, Petroleum Authority of Uganda, Uganda Ministry of Energy and Recruitment Programmes.
Mary Goretti Kitutut added, “Also, our University is training people who are working in this industry; We shall have a good percentage of Ugandans trained in the oil and gas sector by the time the sector booms. We are working very hard to make sure Ugandans benefit from the industry.”
Edited by Elishya Perera
