Uganda and a group of investors have announced their decision to finally proceed with oil production following years of setbacks that threatened the East African country’s efforts to become an oil exporter.

KAMPALA, Uganda — Uganda and a group of investors on Tuesday announced their decision to finally proceed with oil production following years of setbacks that threatened the East African country’s efforts to become an oil exporter.

The China National Offshore Oil Corporation and the French energy conglomerate TotalEnergies said Tuesday that the investment in Uganda would be more than $10 billion.

That sum includes about $3.5 billion to be spent constructing a heated pipeline linking oil fields in western Uganda to the Indian Ocean port of Tanga in Tanzania. At 897 miles, the pipeline will be one of the world’s longest.

Uganda is estimated to have recoverable oil reserves of at least 1.4 billion barrels.

The signing of the final investment decision on Tuesday is a key milestone that authorities were eager to reach in the 16 years since the commercially viable quantities of oil were discovered. This means the investors are firmly committed to extracting Uganda’s oil resources and will proceed to award major contracts.

Uganda’s efforts to produce oil have been threatened by corruption allegations, tax disputes, and administrative delays.

The ceremony in Kampala, the capital, was marked by fanfare, with performances by tribal singers and a police brass band. Witnesses included Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and Tanzanian Vice President Philip Mpango.

“This is the day that the Lord has made,” said Ugandan Energy Minister Ruth Nankabirwa. “The country is now more confident than before.”

TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanne said the ceremony marked a “historic” moment and urged unity and trust among the venture partners.

“We are also very conscious of the sensitivities of the areas where we are going to work, in particular from an environmental point of view,” he said. “We are committed to leaving a positive environmental footprint.”

It remains unclear precisely when Uganda will export its first drop of oil, since developing storage sites, processing facilities and other key infrastructure will take time.

Authorities expect oil exports to start in 2025.

Despite anxiety over falling crude prices in recent years, hopes have remained high in Uganda over the potential for oil exports to lift the country of 45 million people into upper middle-income status by 2040.

Annual per capita income in Uganda was less than $800 in 2019.

A 2015 World Bank study emphasized that the economic benefits would be considerable if local companies are competitive enough to win lucrative service contracts in the oil sector. Authorities hope majority shareholder TotalEnergies and its Chinese partner CNOOC will honor commitments to award up to 30% of the contracts to suppliers of Ugandan origin.

But activists have attacked the pipeline project as “irresponsible,” saying it isn’t compatible with the goals of the Paris climate accord.

Facing pressure to abandon its projects in Uganda, in 2021 TotalEnergies acknowledged “significant social and environmental stakes” posed by oil wells and the pipeline, pledging to proceed responsibly. The conglomerate has said it will limit oil extraction from a popular national park to less than 1% of the protected area.

Critics also say the rights of local residents are at risk and that the pipeline, which would cross rivers and farmland, will damage fragile ecosystems.

The pipeline project could cost more than 12,000 families their land rights, according to the Paris-based International Federation for Human Rights, which has been tracking Uganda’s oil projects.

Others have warned against the personalization of oil resources and heavy borrowing by national budget authorities anticipating oil revenue.

Museveni, who has led Uganda since 1986, has sometimes suggested that the discovery of oil created an opportunity for him to remain in power while his government strives to lift more Ugandans out of poverty.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has included hefty spending on infrastructure projects in its annual budget, looking to spur growth and improve its popularity just ahead of key state elections.

NEW DELHI — Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government included hefty spending on roads, airports and other infrastructure in an annual budget presented to Parliament on Tuesday, looking to spur growth and improve its popularity just ahead of key state elections.

The budget for the coming fiscal year, which starts on April 1, calls for $533 billion in spending, up from $477 billion in the current year, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in presenting it to lawmakers.

“The economy has shown resilience to come out of the pandemic. We need to sustain the level of growth,” Sitharaman said.

She said the new infrastructure investments were part of the government’s economic blueprint for the next 25 years.

The budget would set the fiscal deficit at 6.4% of gross domestic product. It calls for spending $2.7 billion on highway expansion and $6.4 billion on housing for the poor. It includes spending on new roads and airports and an emergency credit line guarantee scheme for small and medium-sized businesses.

India is Asia’s third largest economies and is one of the fastest growing in the world. Growth is forecast at 9.2% for the current fiscal year after a 7.3% contraction the year before, its worst performance in 40 years. The government has projected growth for the coming fiscal year at 8% to 8.5%.

Rising vaccination rates helped instill confidence in reopening businesses after a devastating wave of coronavirus infections swept through the country in the spring of 2021.

But while the economy has bounced back, many jobs disappeared, with the unemployment rate rising to 8% in December, according to the think tank Center for Monitoring Indian Economy. City dwellers were hit particularly hard.

People are taking to the streets in protest.

Last week tens of thousands of people demonstrated in India’s poorest state of Bihar, contending that the hiring process for 35,000 jobs with the railways, India’s largest employer, was not transparent. More than 10 million people had applied for the jobs. The hiring was eventually suspended after protests turned violent.

Sitharaman also announced investments in organic farming and a special fund to finance startups in agriculture. But the budget offered no large stimulus program for farmers, many of whom are unhappy with the Modi party.

That could dent its prospects in upcoming elections which pit Modi’s Hindu nationalist party against an increasingly assertive opposition, particularly in Uttar Pradesh, the country’s most populous state. Elections there and in the leading grain producer, Punjab, and three other states will start on Feb. 10.

Farmers are an influential voting bloc in India, and most analysts believe rising anger among farmers will help regional and caste-based opposition candidates, especially in Uttar Pradesh.

In November, Modi’s government withdrew contentious proposed agricultural laws it had billed as necessary reforms after months of protests by farmers.

That was viewed as a serious setback for Modi, but resentment has not subsided and farmers are demanding that the federal government enact legislation providing minimum support prices for various crops.

Sitharaman said climate action is a major government priority, promising more spending on electric mobility and solar power.

She said 400 energy-efficient trains will be manufactured over the next three years as part of India’s goal to become energy independent by 2047.

The budget laid out other initiatives, such as a Digital Rupee to be issued by the Reserve Bank of India using blockchain technology. The government also will hold spectrum auctions for 5G mobile services in the coming fiscal year.

The budget also includes a proposed 30% tax on income from cryptocurrencies.

It is bound to be enacted since Modi’s party holds a strong majority. But India’s opposition parties said it fails to adequately address inflation and unemployment.

The main opposition Congress party spokesperson Randeep Surjewala dubbed it as a “nothing budget.”

“The pockets of the poor, salaried class, middle class, farmers had been empty, but there is nothing for them in the budget. The hopes of the youth are broken but there is nothing for them either,” Surjewala said in a tweet.

Australia’s government says it will spend more than $1 billion on converting research ideas into commercial hits as it looks to improve the economy with an election looming.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said a new program called Australia’s Economic Accelerator would focus on commercializing research in six areas: defense, space, minerals, food, medical products, and clean energy.

“The key policy challenge surrounds the so-called ‘Valley of Death,’ where early stage research is frequently not progressed to later stages of development because of the risk and uncertainty about commercial returns,” Morrison said.

He said the new program would help bridge that gap by investing in programs with strong commercial potential. It will work in stages by providing lots of small grants initially and then fewer but more valuable grants in subsequent rounds of funding. It is worth 1.6 billion Australian dollars ($1.1 billion) and is part of a larger 2.2 billion Australian dollar package.

Morrison was speaking at the National Press Club in Canberra, where he also reflected on the challenges he’s faced since winning the last election in 2019.

“The past three years have been some of the most extraordinary that our nation has ever experienced,” he said. “Younger generations have never known anything like it. The succession of natural disasters — from drought to flood, fires, pestilence, a once-in-a-century global pandemic, the recession it caused — has pushed our country to the very limits.”

He said his government had been too optimistic about the pandemic ahead of the Australian summer and then had to make “massive changes” when case numbers skyrocketed with the omicron variant of coronavirus.

Morrison faces a tough election challenge from opposition leader Anthony Albanese, whose Labor Party has been leading the government coalition in some opinion polls. Morrison has yet to announce a date for the election, which must be held by May 21.