Boat-making project yet to take off 15 years later

The offices of ADIUL, a boat-making company, in Masese I Village, Walukuba-Masese Division in Jinja Municipality. PHOTO BY PHILIP WAFULA

Jinja- Fifteen years since government through the Uganda Investment Authority (UIA) tasked Jinja Municipality authorities to evict vendors from Masese Landing Site to pave way for a ship-making project, nothing is on ground.

The site, located in Masese I Village, Walukuba-Masese Division, was on August 4, 2003 handed over to Africans Development Incorporation Uganda Limited (ADIUL), a firm owned by Egyptian investor Moustafa El Gendy.
ADIUL was in 2003 given a 25-year lease and work was supposed to start the moment the vendors were evicted. This was set to be the first Ugandan boat manufacturing company.

However, to date, vendors have not been evicted and the main gate to the factory remains fastened with chains, suggesting no activity is taking place or is about to.

Mr Joel Omor, the caretaker of the company, faults the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industries and Fisheries (MAAIF) and the municipal leaders for breaching the July 31, 2003 agreement by failing to evict vendors off the investor’s land.

“Between 2004 and 2005, the investor kept around waiting for government to relocate the vendors from his land, prompting then mayor David Wakudumira to visit the factory on April 6, 2005 and make plans to shift the vendors,” Mr Omor recalls.

President Museveni in 2007 reportedly had ADIUL contracted to renovate marine patrol boats for security agencies ahead of the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting.

“In all, six patrol boats belonging to the Ministry of Defence and four belonging to police were renovated; the President simply felt this investor had to do some work,” Mr Omor says.

There was optimism when half the vendors were later relocated. However, this was not enough for the project to take off. As a result, ADIUL in 2010 closed shop and returned to Egypt.

Asked about ADIUL’s fate and why it has taken 15 years for the vendors to be relocated, Dr Edward Rukunya, the director of fisheries in the MAAIF, referred this reporter to the municipal leaders.

The municipality spokesperson, Mr Rajab Kito, last week said he was ‘busy’, promising to get back later, which he did not do.