Govt withdraws 377 acres of land allocated to investors
State Minister in charge of Privatisation and Investment, Evelyn Anite, said a number of investors had abandoned land that had been allocated to them without providing any plans of developing it. PHOTO | FILE
What you need to know:
- Some of the land that has been withdrawn, according to State Minister in charge of Privatisation and Investment Evelyn Anite, has had no activity for more than 20 years.
At least 377 acres of undeveloped land in the Kampala Industrial Business Park in Namanve, Mukono District have been withdrawn from investors, according to State Minister in charge of Privatisation and Investment Evelyn Anite.
The land had initially been allocated to different investors, some of which have not shown intention of developing it for more than 20 years.
Government provides investors at least 18 months within which they must have put in place plans to develop offered land.
However, while speaking during a status update on the development of the industrial park in Namanve, Ms Anite, said a number of investors had abandoned land that had been allocated to them without providing any plans of developing it.
“What we have unfortunately seen as we manage this land is that there are a number of investors who [have not been] able to execute their projects and the land has been sitting there idle for long periods of time. As a result, we have withdrawn it,” she said.
Ms Anite noted that land had been withdrawn from investors such as Mariana Agencies, which had been allocated 76 acres to establish a soap and vegetable oil plant or factory in 2014.
However, Mariana, she indicated, has since 2014 only backfilled a portion of the land without constructing a factory as it had been planned.
Other effected investors include Surgipham Uganda, whose three acres that were allocated in 2007 to invest in warehousing, will be withdrawn. Divine Oils (eight acres), Tirupati Developers Uganda (eight acres but only utilised two acres) and Zamburi Holdings (0.5 square miles) will also lose allocated land.
The Kampala Industrial Business Park in Namanve has had challenges over the years, failing to achieve envisaged results within set timelines.
It has also faced funding challenges after the World Bank, which had committed Shs350b ($125m), in 2011 withdrew from the project, citing fraudulent and unnecessary delays for the project’s implementation.
A number of concessions have been signed but some sections of the project remain incomplete, with some investors indicating that core conditions to support them establish factories in some parts of the park have not been met as yet.
Ms Anite also noted that some investors from whom land has been withdrawn have opted to take legal action to challenge government from reallocating the withdrawn land.
However, she noted, government was determined to see that the Kampala Industrial Business Park is fully developed to drive government’s agenda of industrialisation.
Uganda Investment Authority manages land allocation within industrial parks and monitor investment projects to ensure that they achieve programmed projections.
Therefore, Ms Anite said in cases where investors are unable to meet their development milestones, UIA can take administrative and legal steps to rectify the situation.
“These steps could extend to declining lease renewals or land withdrawal. Where land is withdrawn, it is reallocated to investors who are ready to get their projects started,” she said.
