The Ugandan government has issued an international tender for the construction of the 700 Megawatt Karuma power station located on the River Nile, the Ministry of Energy and Minerals Development said Wednesday.

In a statement, Kalisa Kabagambe , Uganda 's Energy Permanent Secretary, said the government intends to prequalify contractors through international competitive bidding for the construction of the plant, slated to commence early next year.

"The project includes construction of a 700MW hydro power facility with an underground power station housing five turbines located about three kilometers upstream of Karuma bridge on the River Nile," the statement read.

According to Kalisa, the Karuma project is one of the high priority projects in the national development plan and the government will fund it through the Energy Investment Fund at the Ministry of Energy and Minerals Development.

The successful contractor will be expected to engage in planning and engineering, civil construction, design, installation, testing, and commissioning of the hydro power plant, added Kalisa.

The project will be supervised and managed by the state-run Uganda Electricity Generation Co. Prequalification documents must be delivered to the government before 11.00 am local time Oct. 20 2010 .

President Yoweri Museveni said earlier this year the government would fund the construction of the Karuma project, as the first priority project to boost the recovery of war-ravaged northern Uganda . According to government officials, the project is expected to cost at least $1.3 billion.

The Ugandan government set up an energy fund in 2007 to develop its electricity infrastructure, and every financial year the government allocates around $100 million to the fund.

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