The World Bank assisted the Government of Uganda in restructuring the Bujagali Hydropower Project, following the withdrawal of the project’s private sponsor, AES Corporation, in August 2003. New investment arrangements and public-private partnerships have been made to resurrect the 250MW hydropower plant at Bujagali Falls on Uganda's Nile River. Despite continued local concerns about Bujagali’s high cost and potential social impacts, and doubts about whether it is the best option to meet Uganda’s energy needs, the World Bank Group again approved the project in April 2007.
During the year preceding AES’s departure, the project had been suspended and World Bank Group financing withheld since May 2002 pending the outcome of corruption investigations by the US Department of Justice and the World Bank Fraud and Corruption Unit. Following a long campaign and legal battle to secure the disclosure of the contract between the Ugandan Energy Authority and the Bujagali operating company, the Ugandan High Court handed down a landmark ruling on November 12, 2002, declaring the contract a public document. Independent analysis found that the contract, called the Power Purchase Agreement, was overly costly and unduly risky for the Ugandan government and prospective consumers. Bank Group officials have refused to respond to the analysis until the U.S. Justice Department Investigation is concluded.
In their ongoing efforts to advocate for the development of alternative energy sources, the National Association of Professional Environmentalists (NAPE) and other local organizations coordinated a conference on geothermal energy in Uganda held in Kampala on April 13, 2003. The United Nations Environment Program and the Global Environment Fund are collaborating on the development of an initiative to promote geothermal energy in the Rift Valley of Eastern Africa.