{"id":58456,"date":"2023-10-27T14:30:24","date_gmt":"2023-10-27T14:30:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-defends-bitature-multibillion-power-deal"},"modified":"2023-10-27T16:02:25","modified_gmt":"2023-10-27T16:02:25","slug":"govt-defends-bitature-multibillion-power-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-defends-bitature-multibillion-power-deal","title":{"rendered":"Govt defends Bitature multibillion power deal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Uganda. <\/strong><\/span>The State Minister for Privatization and Investments, Ms Evelyn Anite, has defended the recently sealed multibillion power deal between the government and city businessman Patrick Bitature.<\/b><\/p>\n

Ms Anite who reportedly brokered the deal which will see government acquire Mr Bitature\u2019s Tororo-based 50 megawatt Electromax diesel power plant, told journalists at her office on Wednesday that there is need for preparation for any future blackout and thus the relevancy of the deal.<\/p>\n

Government through the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development earlier this month signed a five-year power purchase agreement with Bitature, and that the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) would be executed between the Uganda Electricity Transmission Company Ltd and Electro-Maxx.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst of all I want to tell the country that there was nothing like a bailout as I saw the media reporting it. As government, 60 percent of our budget is invested in doing business with the private sector and this is one of them,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not the first private power plant the government is buying, we first bought the Jacobsen Elektro from Germans and this time again when the private investor [Bitature] approached us, we agreed and decided to buy it but since we don\u2019t have money, we agreed to take it over gradually,\u201d she further explained.<\/p>\n

Under this arrangement whose monetary value has remained a secret, Mr Bitature will operate the venture for five years and then transfer it to the government to act as a standby generator.<\/p>\n

Ms Irene Batebe, the Permanent Secretary at the energy ministry, reaffirmed that the deal is aimed at preparing the country for any future unexpected blackouts.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese thermal power plants have a running power purchase agreement, it has existed for years this is not a new power plant. We have renewed the power purchase agreement for the next five years. After the five years, we shall sit and evaluate at that time whether we still need the plants because you assess within that period what your demand is and how the sector is progressing,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Ms Anite said the government will go on with this arrangement, \u201cbecause it is aimed at supporting a local [Ugandan] entrepreneur.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the issue is about creating employment and adding value to Ugandans, I, Anite will definitely support that but as I said I don\u2019t broker bailouts but I can only broker incentives,\u201d she stated.<\/p>\n

Bitature woes<\/b><\/p>\n

In July this year, the International Chamber of Commerce Court of Arbitration in London by a sole arbitrator, Prof Fidfelis Oditah KC, SAN ordered Mr Bitature to pay back over $65.7m (about Shs244.8b) to Vantage Mezzanine Fund II Partnership, a South African investment Fund and risks losing part of his businesses should he default.<\/p>\n

This protracted legal matter ended up before the London Court of Arbitration after efforts by Vantage to auction were frustrated by Ugandan courts.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t support any business collapsing and that is why as the Minister in that docket, I will do whatever I can to help the investors get incentives but not bailouts,\u201d Ms Anite said.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Uganda<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Uganda. The State Minister for Privatization and Investments, Ms Evelyn Anite, has defended the recently sealed multibillion power deal between the government and city businessman Patrick Bitature. Ms Anite who reportedly brokered the deal which will see government acquire Mr Bitature\u2019s Tororo-based 50 megawatt Electromax diesel power plant, told journalists at her office […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":58455,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,12],"tags":[233,240,234],"class_list":["post-58456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-uganda","tag-uganda"],"yoast_head":"\nGovt defends Bitature multibillion power deal - Uganda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The State Minister for Privatization and Investments, Ms Evelyn Anite, has defended the recently sealed multibillion ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-defends-bitature-multibillion-power-deal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Govt defends Bitature multibillion power deal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The State Minister for Privatization and Investments, Ms Evelyn Anite, has defended the recently sealed multibillion ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-defends-bitature-multibillion-power-deal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Uganda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-10-27T14:30:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-10-27T16:02:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2023\/10\/sm_1698409842.92779.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1066\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-defends-bitature-multibillion-power-deal#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-defends-bitature-multibillion-power-deal\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Govt defends Bitature multibillion power deal\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-10-27T14:30:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-10-27T16:02:25+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-defends-bitature-multibillion-power-deal\"},\"wordCount\":527,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-defends-bitature-multibillion-power-deal#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2023\/10\/sm_1698409842.92779.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Uganda\",\"uganda\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"head lines\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-defends-bitature-multibillion-power-deal#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-defends-bitature-multibillion-power-deal\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-defends-bitature-multibillion-power-deal\",\"name\":\"Govt defends Bitature multibillion power deal - 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