East African Business Week

Kampala, Uganda - The Government is to review Tamoil East Africa's oil pipeline project following the move by the UN to freeze Libyan assets in Uganda.
Uganda's Minister of Energy and Mineral Development, Mr Hillary Onek, said last week that while the oil pipeline remains one of the best solutions to Uganda's fuel supply problems, the government will revisit its development.   
"Now that there is an international embargo, we shall review Tamoil's contract. In any case, they haven't done much," Mr Onek said.
Tamoil won the tender to extend Kenya's Mombasa-Eldoret pipeline to Uganda in 2009 but the project had been delayed for a while due to the the increase in the prices of products such as oil and steel on the international market.
The pipeline, whose cost short up by more than 300% from $78.2 million to $300 million following the change in the pipeline design a single carriage to a dual carriage, was supposed to see Tamoil transport oil products to and from Kenya.
The design was changed to a dual carriage after it emerged that Uganda might want to export and import fuel at the same time. Reports show that following the asset freeze resolution passed in New York by the UN, it is thought likely that board seats in companies affected and held by Libya leader Gaddafi's  appointees, may also be victim of the asset freeze so as to remove any form of control over these assets, many of which have been flaunted as "Gaddafi's own," yet should, for all purposes, be property of the Libyan people.
Already operations of the Libyan investments in Uganda, like Laico Hotels, formely Lake Victoria Hotel, have been affected  following change in management effected recently.
Other investments in Uganda Telecom, Tropical Bank, National Housing, and a range of other commercial investments, have also been affected.
It is presently unclear and time will tell how these enterprises will conduct business once the formal freeze notice has been affected on them.
Laico also has the Grand Regency in Nairobi in its portfolio, a hotel in Kigali, and several more across sub-Saharan Africa, and it remains to be seen how those will be affected when the respective national governments act on the UN's directives.
Uganda is now preparing for oil production. Government has already announced plans to build a refinery, which will heighten the need for a pipeline that transports oil products to and from the port of Mombasa.