Stop sabotaging investment, Anite warns NEMA

The State Minister for Trade and Investment, Ms Evelyn Anite has warned National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA) against evicting investors from gazetted industrial parks.

"Stop bothering these investors. The only thing I expect from you is to verify a few things, but the environmental assessment in the entire park was done," she said Thursday while meeting local and foreign investors doing businesses at the Namanve Industrial Park.

She asked NEMA to concentrate their energy in the area of verification on the individual industrial parks noting that it has no right to call anyone a small fish, big fish, crocodile or mukene as earlier alleged.

"The people who gazetted this industrial park in 1991 knew very well that there was a forest and a wetland in it, so stay away from investors," Ms Anite warned.

She assured investors that the government will provide roads, water, electricity and security as it has already contracted Lagan Contractors to work on the projects. She also warned investors with idle land to either utilize it or else the government will reclaim it.

Mr Nicholas Byengooma, the Managing Director at NICONTRA LTD accused NEMA of sabotaging their developments by threatening to evict them.

"We need a serious intervention because NEMA has come with a hammer and my brother (NEMA boss) recently said on Television that whether you are Mukene or Tilapia you have to leave," he said.

Dr Anna Nakanwagi the managing Director of MAKY LTD said UNBS's high laboratory fees and the bureaucracy in certifying their products have severely affected investment.

"We invested a lot of money in our machines and they cannot withstand the dust from the bad roads in the park, and NEMA is another big problem to us they always halt our construction works," she complained. 

Other investors blamed UIA officials for not picking up their calls and asked them to do their work as expected.