Cabinet approves 25 industrial parks
Government will be aiming at using industrial parks to achieve middle income status. PHOTO/FILE
What you need to know:
- Cabinet resolved that the Uganda People’s Defense Force (UPDF) will take charge of the construction of the infrastructure needed for the parks.
Cabinet has approved a proposal to establish 25 industrial parks in all sub-regions in the country. The paper was presented by the State minister for Investment and Privatisation, and outgoing MP for Koboko Municipality Evelyn Anite.
A source, who attended the Monday meeting chaired by President Museveni, told Daily Monitor that the President welcomed the strategy that is aimed at taking Uganda to the middle income status.
In an interview with this newspaper, Ms Anite said: “I presented a paper on industrialisation and manufacturing being a mechanism to take Uganda to middle income status. My paper, which was adopted and approved, was putting industrial parks in all the zones of the country. In every sub-region, which makes a zone, there is clearly going to be an industrial park. That makes it 20 zones, and the ones in the capital city, there will be a total of 25 parks.”
Mr Museveni had promised Ugandans a middle income status in 2020 but this eluded the country.
The strategy, according to the source, aims at fulfilling this promise in the five-year-term that starts May 12.
“Government is prioritising investment in Industrial parks to support industrialisation and create jobs,” Mr Museveni said in 2019.
The parks will focus on value addition in agriculture products and minerals to scale up export promotion and reducing imports.
To avoid delayed works, Cabinet resolved that the Uganda People’s Defense Force (UPDF) will take charge of the construction of the infrastructure needed for the parks.
The parks will be set up on public land measuring 500 acres to be provided by the local governments. Cabinet agreed that the land must be free from disputes and must not be a wetland.
At least 15 industrial parks were created in the last five years.
The parks were set up in Mbale, Kapeeka, Buikwe, Njeru, Namanve, Jinja, Soroti, Kampala Industrial and Business Park, Luzira Industrial and Business Park, and Bweyogerere industrial estate.
Industrial Park sites
The new parks will be in Arua and Adjuman in West Nile, Gulu in Acholi, Lira in Lango, Moroto in Karamoja, Soroti in Teso, Mbale in Bugisu, Jinja in Busoga; Kabale in Kigezi and Rukungiri in Western; Mbarara in Ankole, and Hoima in Bunyoro.
Others will be established in Mukono, Namanve, Kapeeka in Nakaseke, and Mengo in Kampala .
