State Minister for Minerals in the ministry of Energy Peter Lokeris has assured Ugandans that the country is to start its oil production in 2019 given that all the factors to support this have been put in place. He says the oil export pipeline, refinery, power production among other key elements to oil production are already laid by government.
This as he officiated at the workshop to discuss citizens participation in petroleum development where Uganda has been criticized by researchers for not putting opportunities to see that local people in areas where oil is, become the first beneficiaries in the oil production process.
Meanwhile, Prof. Elijah Mushemeza who championed a survey on local participation on behalf of ACODE notes that the citizens don’t have information on which areas to focus on for business purposes in areas where oil is to be extracted hence a call to government to sensitize the masses in oil rich areas.