The people of West Nile may have to wait up to November to be able to get 24-hour supply of electricity.
State Minister for Energy, Simon D'Ujanga, says the 3.5-megawatt dam's completion date, which had been scheduled for June/July, has now been shifted to November because of the disruptions caused by the post-election violence in Kenya.
D'Ujanga says the Kenyan crisis reduced the supply of heavy diesel used in powering Arua-based 1.5-megawatt generator that also supplies power to the construction site on River Nyagak near Paidha town in Nebbi District.
The minister says the generator now runs for about six hours a day, down from 20 hours, and has grossly reduced the amount of work at the dam construction site.
D'Ujanga says the violence in Kenya also disrupted the supply of vital dam components whose delivery dates had to be shifted causing further delays in construction work.
He says he is touring the dam site next week, for an on spot assessment of the dam.
During the commissioning of construction of the dam in February 2006, President Yoweri Museveni and Ministry of Energy officials promised that the dam would be completed by Christmas 2007.
But in November last year, that completion date was shifted to March 2008 and later June/July 2008.
Afema Obitre-Gama, the dam's resident engineer, attributed the delay to the civil sub-contractor, Sobrieta International, which failed to complete its work in time.
Though he declined to give reasons, sources said Sobrieta was under performing mainly because it had spread its equipment and manpower thin to do several other lucrative civil works like bridge construction at the same time.
The 22-billion shilling dam is a public-private sector venture between the government and Industrial Promotion Services (IPS), a subsidiary of the Aga Khan business empire.
On completion, the Nyagak dam will supply electricity to the districts of Nebbi, Arua, Maracha-Terego, Koboko and Yumbe.
The remaining districts of Moyo and Adjumani, will either be connected on the national electricity grid from Gulu or have a micro hydropower dam built in the Madi sub-region.
