Mbale City, Uganda — Hon. Hajjat Aminah Mukalazi has continued the countrywide industrial parks tour with a visit to the Sino-Uganda Mbale Industrial Park, marking the second day of engagements aimed at understanding the challenges affecting investors, industries and workers across Uganda’s industrial parks.
The Sino-Uganda Mbale Industrial Park is home to 92 industries, 72 of which are currently active. During the visit, Hon. Mukalazi toured nine industries: Unisteal Industries, Tian’ao Furniture Ltd, Grace Textiles, Nice Textiles, Xin Long Textiles, Hui Ye Textiles, Timber Paper Industry, Uganda Lida Perfect Establishments, and U Home Uganda.
The engagements brought together industrial park leadership, investors and other stakeholders, including Mr. Luke Wang, Director of Tian Tang Group; Mr. Owen Jin, Deputy Managing Director of Tian Tang Group; and Mr. Frank Liu, Deputy General Manager of the Sino-Uganda Mbale Industrial Park.
Investors Raise Key Operational Challenges
During discussions and factory visits, investors highlighted several challenges affecting the operations and growth of businesses within the industrial park.
These included road safety and frequent accidents along the highway near the park, inadequate firefighting capacity, insecurity at night, poor waste management and electricity outages, among other concerns.
According to the park leadership, approximately 20 lives have been lost in road accidents in the area, prompting a call for urgent interventions to improve road safety, particularly through the installation of appropriate road signage and speed humps.
The security concerns raised will be addressed through collaboration between @PoliceUg and other security agencies, the industrial park leadership and the surrounding community, with the aim of strengthening security within and around the park.
Government to Engage on Road Safety
On the road safety concerns, Hon. Mukalazi’s Ministry will engage the Ministry of Works and Transport (@MoWT_Uganda), under the leadership of Hon. Byamukama, to ensure that the concerns raised by the park leadership are addressed.
Particular attention will be given to the request for appropriate road signage and speed humps along the highway, which are intended to reduce accidents and protect lives around the industrial park.
Electricity Supply Interventions Underway
The issue of electricity reliability was also discussed during the engagement.
The Director General of the Uganda Investment Authority, Mr. Robert Mukiza (@mukiza_robert), informed the delegation that procurement of equipment aimed at stabilising electricity supply is ongoing in coordination with the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development (@MEMD_Uganda).
The intervention is expected to contribute to more reliable electricity supply for industries operating within the park.
Protecting Wetlands While Supporting Industrial Expansion
Hon. Mukalazi also emphasised the importance of environmental protection as Uganda continues to promote industrialisation.
Investors are required to comply with environmental regulations and must not expand industrial activities into wetlands. To support responsible industrial growth, Government is providing alternative land outside wetland areas to facilitate the expansion of the industrial park.
Commitment to Supporting Investors
Hon. Mukalazi appreciated her colleague Hon. Lydia Wanyoto (@WanyotoLydia) for joining the engagements and tour.
She commended the investors operating in Mbale Industrial Park for their contribution to job creation, value addition and Uganda’s industrialisation agenda.
The engagements demonstrate Government’s commitment to working with investors, industrial park leadership and other stakeholders to address investment bottlenecks and create an enabling environment for industries to grow, create employment and contribute to Uganda’s economic transformation.
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