Prime
Government spends Shs44b on salt import
Salt deposits on Lake Katwe. Commercial salt production stalled in the 1980s. PHOTO Felix Basiime
What you need to know:
Following the collapse of the salt factory at L. Katwe immediately after its establishment, the government was left with no option but to import to meet the high demand.
Kampala
Uganda’s salt import bill has increased by Shs27.8 billion over five years, sucking up resources that would have been saved had Lake Katwe Salt Factory been running.
In 2010 alone, the country spent Shs43 billion on imports up from Shs15.8 billion in 2005, according to the United Nations Commodity Trade Statistics Database. About 90 per cent of the salt consumed in Uganda is imported, mainly from Kenya.
Leaders from Kasese District, in which the factory is located, have of recent renewed calls for the revival of the factory built in 1982 but it collapsed shortly afterwards because the machines that had been installed could not withstand the salinity of raw salt. “Once it is up and running, it would offer jobs to locals and boost the local government coffers – through royalties,” Busongora North MP William Nzoghu says.
The political instability that prevailed throughout the early to mid-1980s also hampered would-be initiatives to revive the project.
The Privatisation Unit in 2007 sought for investors in the project, but only two expressed interest and the process was abandoned.
Trade and Industry Permanent Secretary Julius Onen says the government appreciates the need to revive Lake Katwe Salt Factory to boost local salt production and reduce the import bill but referred us to the Uganda Development Corporation (UDC) for comments.
UDC says a feasibility study needs to be done to establish the viability of the project. However, the government is yet to commit resources for this. The corporation needs Shs700 million to embark on the study. “We have asked [the government] for money to carry out a feasibility study on the project. There is no indication that the money is in next year’s budget,” the UDC acting chief executive officer, Mr Samuel Ssenkungu, says.
Mr Ssenkungu adds that it would be unwise to revive the plant before a study to clarify on the salt deposits, the cost for plant machinery and the internal rate of return, among others.
The study would also inform the prospective investor of the kind of material that would be appropriate for the salt.
According to a January 2013 study by Makerere University, Lake Katwe has 22.5 million tonnes of crystalline salts, which would be enough to support commercial production.
The study titled: ‘Towards the improvement of salt extraction at Lake Katwe’, says these deposits can sustain a salt plant for more than 30 years at 40,000 tonnes per annum.
Uganda reportedly imports 60,000 tonnes annually.
Presently, it yields only 15,000 tonnes annually because the salt mining is carried out rudimentarily.
Much of it is not iodised and therefore not suitable for human consumption, according to a 2010 study by the Uganda National Bureau of Standards.
The salt plant collapsed in the 1980s because of mismanagement and due to the use of materials that would often corrode once in contact with the saline product.
