Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni (File Photo)

    KAMPALA, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has urged leaders from the Group of Eight (G8) leading industrial powers to support Africa in producing energy cheaply so that it can attract more investors.

    Daily Monitor on Thursday quoted a State House statement as saying the President was speaking at a meeting in London to hammer out solutions to the continent's problems ahead of this year's G8 summit in Heiligendamm, Germany.

    President Museveni said there would be an influx of investors to Africa if there was cheap electricity.

    "Where we need assistance now, or at least no obstruction on cheap electricity -- hydro, geothermal and nuclear power," he said.

    He said the production of cheap hydroelectric power was the biggest challenge facing Africa in general and Uganda in particular and that cheap electricity would lower the cost of production and spur investment.

    He reportedly said the way forward was to go for nuclear energy and appealed for support in this venture.

    Uganda is currently facing an electricity deficit of 150 MW, which has retarded economic growth over the past three years by not only frustrating old investors but deterring new ones also.

    A new 750 million U.S. dollar power dam, which has been cleared for construction at Bujagali in Jinja, eastern Uganda, is expected to be completed earliest by 2011. Other smaller projects have failed to take off due to lack of financers.

    The president appealed to the G8 industrialized nations to woo investors in their respective countries to come to Africa in general and Uganda in particular to invest.

    He observed that too much aid is not good for a growing economy because it causes artificial appreciation of the local currency and undermines exports.

    He said bottlenecks such as economic stagnation and fragmentation of the African market, lack of infrastructure and unnecessary delays by bureaucrats when handling new business ventures had been addressed in Uganda.

    The president cautioned G8 leaders against "political interference" in Africa.

    "Some of the G8 countries seem to think they should have a supervising role over Africa," the president said.

    The G8, an informal forum of leading industrialized nations, groups Germany, France, Britain, Italy, Japan, the United States, Canada and Russia.

    At this year's summit, the industrial powers are expected to focus on the development of Africa among other key issues.