Hydro Tasmania CEO quizzed over worker deaths in Uganda

Hydro Tasmania will investigate worker safety at a Ugandan dam its consulting arm is helping build following reports of regular accidents and deaths of local workers.

Energy Minister Guy Barnett, right, and Hydro Tasmania CEO Stephen Davy. Picture: MATT THOMPSON

HYDRO Tasmania will investigate worker safety at a Ugandan dam its consulting arm is helping build following several reports of serious accidents and deaths suffered by local workers.

Greens Franklin MHA Rosalie Woodruff quizzed Hydro Tasmania chief executive Stephen Davy on Entura’s involvement on the Karuma Dam project at government business enterprise hearings on Thursday.

Mr Davy said Hydro Tasmania examined local conditions before becoming involved with international projects, but conceded he was not aware of the reports from Uganda.

Ugandan media has reported more than 30 accidents were recorded at the Karuma site in a single month, some of which had resulted in deaths of local workers.

The project has been led by Chinese company Sinohydro with Ugandan company Energy Infratech.

“I will look into those [reports],” Mr Davy said.

“We have a rigorous filtering process in terms of which projects we get involved in, that’s true … the first step is can our people work safely in that area? That filtering process would have been applied.”

Energy Minister Guy Barnett said Hydro Tasmania was proud of its work in developing countries.

“They’ve helped lift communities and nations out of energy poverty,” Mr Barnett said.

A report from capital city newspaper Kampa Post detailed a riot at the Karuma site in late June in which 20 people were arrested and one person killed by the Ugandan defence force.

Another Ugandan media organisation, The Independent, reported in 2016 that eight people had died working on the project with dozens more seriously injured.

The $2.2 billion dam will be built at Karuma Falls on Victoria Nile and, when built, will be the largest power-generating facility in the country.

About 6000 people — the vast majority of whom are Ugandan — are working on the project.