The Minister said that the investors have always complained to the government about the high costs of power they invest during their operations and the challenges in road shedding that government wants to sort.
The Privatization
and Investments State minister, Evelyn Anite has revealed government plans to
construct a power substation in Mbale City industrial park to overcome the challenge of power outages.
According to
Anite, the substation will also help reduce the heavy costs of power for
running the park.
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Anite was speaking at the launch of Grace Form Limited, the fifth
factory in the industrial park. The factory will be producing praying mats and
mattresses.
According to Anite, investors often complain to the government
about the high costs of power and the challenge of load shedding.
She also said the government is committed to finding the market
for their products both in Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo where they
are constructing a link road and other African countries.
Anite used the same event to caution politicians against disrupting the
activities of investors to get political capital and get bribes, saying the
industrial park should only be used to employ young people in the area to
foster the development agenda.
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Owen Jin, the Public Relations Officer of Sino Uganda, said that the newly
commissioned Grace Form factory will employ more than 700 Ugandans.
He, however,
decried the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the progress of the industrial
park, saying there are no investors.
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Mbale City Industrial Park was officially commissioned by president, Yoweri
Museveni in March this year.
The other
factories in the park include Pearlight Technology, which manufactures energy
saving bulbs, Ubon Technology, which produces powder, Victoria Cable Limited
manufacturing cables and Kyoga Capital Textile Limited, which is producing
stockings.
The Park, with a total investment of more than US $600M (Shs2.2
trillion), is expected to house more than 50 factories and employ more than
15,000 youth.
Kirinya Ayubu is the URN Bureau Chief of Elgon/Bukedi Sub Regions . He holds a Bachelors Degree in Mass Communication from Islamic University in Uganda and a Diploma in Computer Science and Information Technology from the same University.
