Procurement of 234,989 no-pole connection materials utilizing funds from the Exim Bank of China Access project (under TBEA contract) is also ongoing and these materials are expected in August 2021.
The policy, which enables Ugandans to get connected to the national grid for free, if no pole is required, is largely funded by loans from the World Bank, the Islamic Development Bank and the African Development Bank, with Uganda playing counterpart funding.
Last Month, UMEME suspended the free power connections under the government aided Electricity Connection Policy (ECP) which was launched in 2018 with the objective of subsidizing last mile electricity connection to customers. The 10 year policy had a target of connecting 300,000 people annually. Under the Electricity Connection Policy (ECP), Ugandans were required to pay only 20,000 Shillings for inspection while government clears all other fees to the power distributors.
