Pole plant

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uedcl pole pant

The Pole Plant is one of the assets vested under Uganda Electricity Distribution Company Limited (UEDCL) following the disbanding of the former Uganda Electricity Board (UEB). In May 2004, UEDCL signed a twenty-year concession agreement with UMEME Limited. The agreement took effect on March 1, 2005. In the above agreement, UEDCL leased all its assets to UMEME to manage and maintain the distribution network with an aim to invest in the power distribution network to improve on the quality of supply through rehabilitation, upgrading, and expansion of the distribution network.

The Pole Plant, previously operating as a support section to UEDCL operations, was not part of the assets concessioned to UMEME, but was retained to be maintained and managed under the new mandate of UEDCL.

The Plant has, since then, operated as a self-sustaining business unit that purchases seasoned poles, treats them using creosote oil chemical. The treated poles are used in the areas where UEDCL distributes power, also sells them to UMEME, REA, plus exporting the same to Southern Sudan, Rwanda and Tanzania and to any other interested buyers in the region.

To create a market difference after the emergency of a myriad of competitors in the business, UEDCL launched the first-ever electronic pole tracking management system in the region. This involves labelling all our products with a Radio Frequency Identification tag (RFID) scientifically inserted in each pole product. It was launched as a pilot for a project and the analysis of the system performance was on-going by the end of the financial year 2018. This continues to boost the customer confidence and, is expected to increase our market sharein the coming years.

uedcl pole plant
At UEDCL, Quality is our top priority. We have continuously supplied quality treated utility poles to our customers. The plant is certified with the Quality Management System ISO 9001:2015. To further augment quality, UEDCL has got an equipped laboratory to run all quality analysis required including quality of the creosote oil, penetration and retention of the chemical into the poles. This is juxtaposed with a highly skilled workforce that provide the quality assurance desired by our clients.

Our poles are pressure treated with Creosote to meet the following standards;

  • US EAS 322:2002 (Uganda Standards Certification Mark for its Wood Poles for power and telecommunication Lines – Creosote treated wood poles)
  • EAS 323:2002 (East African Standards Specification for wood preservation by means of pressure creosoting)
  • SANS 754:2010 (South African National Standards Eucalyptus poles, cross-arms and spacers for power distribution and communications Systems)
The future outlook of the pole production plant points at establishing a one-stop-centre for utility poles located at Kyampisi, in Namayumba Town Council – Wakiso district. The Company has already registered a number of achievements towards achieving this goal. A number of mini-projects completed towards the main relocation and expansion project have been completed. These included the extension of power to the proposed site, establishment of a pumping station for the water and the associated infrastructure, completion and approval of the environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), submission of the master plan and the structural and architectural designs to the authorities for approval, among others.