Energy Minister Ruth Nankabirwa has said Uganda is negotiating with the two governments of Kenya and Tanzania to develop pipelines as part of a plan in which transportation of petroleum products by road will be eliminated.

The plan also seeks to develop reverse pipelines through which Uganda’s refined oil products will, according to Ms Nankabirwa, be marketed and supplied to other parts of East Africa, including Kenya, northern Tanzania, and DR Congo.

Speaking in an interview in Kampala yesterday, Ms Nankabirwa told Monitor that the pipelines, once realised, will be key in reducing “the wearing away of our road infrastructure but also reduce carbon emissions”.

“We want to reduce the wearing of our road infrastructure and carbon emissions. Where you use 100 trucks, petroleum products will be moving through pipelines, which means trucks will not be on the road,” she said but did not indicate when the plan is expected to be achieved.

It is estimated that at least 180 trucks transporting about 6.5 million litres of petroleum products enter Uganda every day.

• Read More