Investors blame low productivity on power
Members of the parliamentary committee on finance, planning and economic development, and Uganda Investment Authority executive director Jolly Kaguhangire (right) look at some of the products made by Graphics Systems in Luzira Industrial Park on Tuesday. PHOTO BY STEPHEN WANDERA
What you need to know:
- Investors in Luzira Business and Industrial park have decried power shortage in the area.
- Mr Gideon Badagawa said most companies in Uganda run at only 60 per cent capacity.
KAMPALA. Investors in Luzira Business and Industrial park have decried power shortage in the area saying it is not enough to allow for full capacity production which impedes on profitability of the businesses.
Factory owners have for a long time complained about electricity and been promised a solution.
However, they voiced their grievances to the parliamentary committee on finance, planning and economic development during the Members of Parliament’s visit to their premises.
Mr William Byandusya, the director Masterwood Investment, said: “We appreciate the power was cut to lower costs. But we do not have enough to work to full capacity and we cannot consume what we do not have. We have been promised a substation for long, but up to now have never seen it.”
In reply, Ms Jolly Kaguhangire, the executive director Uganda Investment Authority (UIA), said the tour was meant to have a detailed understanding of the industry’s challenges.
She said this is partly the cause of need for the $151m (Shs543b) that will be used to address the power challenges.
“Some of these factories have a dedicated line for their activities which is not tapped by anyone else while the other big players like Steel and Tube Industries have alternate lines such that when one is off, another line is utilised so they do not lose power,” Mr Hamza Galiwango, the director lands development at the authority, explained how the factories are currently operating.
He added that because some of them use generators to back up the power supply, they incur high costs of production, leading to inflated prices of finished goods.
However, he noted that they are currently correcting this problem with the aid of a Chinese loan that has enabled Uganda Electricity Transmission Company Limited start installing a substation that will move the 32KV of power to 132KV. This will increase power supply and cut costs of doing business.
Mr Galiwango said installation of the substation is currently at its inception (20 per cent) and is expected to be completed in January 2019.
Production capacity
Exports: Last year, during the Uganda National Bureau of Standards awards, the executive director Private Sector Foundation Uganda, Mr Gideon Badagawa said most companies in Uganda run at only 60 per cent capacity.
He said because of this, Uganda’s exporting capacity is reduced which is a big hindrance to the country’s foreign exchange.
