'Expansion of Namanve industrial park will create 200,000 jobs'

By David Muwanga

The Uganda Investment Authority (UIA) is in the process of acquiring an additional 400 hectares of land to expand the Kampala Industrial and Business Park (KIBP) at Namanve.

“This will make the KIBP the largest industrial hub in Uganda sitting on 2600 hectares of land. We also intend to attract more investors in modern technology and innovation. The 2600 hectares will accommodate 500 companies with a total investment capacity of $3.5 trillion, who will in turn contribute $540 million in taxes per annum and creating 200,000 jobs for Ugandans,” said Hamza Galiwango, the authority’s director for Industrial Parks Development.

He was speaking at a recently at a workshop on the development of infrastructure in KIBP at Silver Springs hotel.

KIBP currently sits on 2,200 acres and to date, all the land has been allocated to 320 prospective investors for development in various sub-sectors such as agro processing, mineral processing, ICT, logistics and freight, warehousing, general manufacturing as well as tourism promotion activities.

KIBP is one of the three government-owned industrial parks within the Kampala-Mukono region- the other two are the Luzira and Bweyogerere industrial and business parks.

Galiwango added that the Park will be able to accommodate all the industries after the completion of the implementation of a 249m Euro (Shs1Tn) infrastructure project at the Park which will ran over the next 42 months.

Speaking at the same event, UIA board member, Gertrude Lutaaya Kateesa, noted that in order to provide a serviced industrial and business park, the government secured funding from the United Kingdom Export Finance (UKEF) a total of Euros 249 million for the development of critical infrastructure in the park.

The infrastructure development project will include the construction of an integrated road network and bridges, a 15km water supply network, 20km sewerage network of sewerage mains, water treatment plant, 65km of underground power cables, 88km of solar street lighting, fibre optic cable, a CCTV system, workspaces for the small and medium scale enterprises, a gym, a police station and high-water hydrants among others.

“By establishing these parks, we not only support business growth but also greatly contribute to the Government of Uganda’s industrialisation agenda, create more jobs, ease access to land for investment, introduce new research and technology, boost skills developments and increase Uganda’s exports base,” said Mr. Joseph Kiggundu, acting director General, UIA,.