No more land in Namanve industrial park, says UIA

Kampala.

Investors will now have to look elsewhere after Uganda Investment Authority (UIA) told Daily Monitor at the weekend that there is no more land to be allocated at the Kampala Business and Industrial Park commonly known as Namanve.
The land, according to UIA, has all been allocated to about 290 prospective investors, 33 of which already have fully fledged operations there.
Eighty seven are in the construction phase while 120 are in the pre start study stage. 50 are the latest and last batch to be allocated land in the industrial park.
Speaking at the weekend, Mr Hamza Galiwango, the UIA director lands development division said: “Namanve is 100 per cent allocated. 290 prospective investors [have already been allocated land there,” noting that majority of the investors are domestic accounting for 66.2 per cent of total allocations. At least, he said, there are 192 local and 98 foreign investors’ allocations.
Some of the already operational investors in the park, UIA said, include Century Bottling Company, Roofings, Threeways Shipping, Leaf Tobacco and Commodities, among others.
The 2,200 acre industrial park, according to UIA, has been a priority for many investors accessibility to a number of amenities such as electricity and water, among others.
“The area is fully gazetted for industrial development. Government provides infrastructure and utilities. Land is offered free of charge since government waived payment of the land within Namanve,” Mr Galiwango said.
However, there have been concerns indicating that some of the parceled out land has stayed idle for years and has not been developed as planned with some reportedly resold by previous owners while others have built residential properties.
UIA has, over the years, been seeking funds to develop industrial parks across the country to boost industrialisation. A $151m loan (Shs545b) from Exim Bank has already been requested to furnish industrial parks with roads, water and electricity.
Mr Galiwango told Daily Monitor government was in the process of handling the dynamics of the loan to see how it will be shared between the different parks.