KAMPALA – The Uganda Investment Authority on Thursday launched an ambitious campaign to help investment facilitation and protection of investors, both foreign and local to report complaints about corruption, bribes, and delays directly.
Robert Mukiza, the Director General, UIA told reporters in Namanve Industrial and Business Park, the largest industrial park in Uganda, that the campaign would also help to entrench the government’s industrial agenda, catalyze import substitution and promote exports.
“In this campaign, timely support will be provided to local and foreign investors in benefitting from the generous incentive package that Uganda offers, including access to industrial park land,” said Mukiza during a guided tour of Uganda’s flagship industrial park.
Under this arrangement, UIA will work with other relevant Government agencies including the Uganda Revenue Authority, the State House Investors Protection Unit, the Uganda Registration Services Bureau, NWSC, and UMEME among others to ensure that services to investors are provided in a timely way.
“Any roadblocks, delays or red tape that investors face will be dealt with swiftly,” he said, adding that:
“In this regard, I shall be making spot visits to investors in all industrial parks to appraise myself with any challenges they may be facing and come up with relevant solutions.”
He has said that the UIA will support investors in Uganda and that an enabling environment is in place to boost investment.
“I have set up a special 24-hour hotline in my office that investors can use to raise any form of complaint or make a request, that is in line with our mandate,” he told reporters.
Mukiza revealed that the government has made available 81 square miles of land in UIA gazetted industrial parks countrywide for local investors.
“If you have an interesting value addition project, please feel free to approach us with your idea or project. Ugandans should be aware that all land in industrial parks is free of charge. However, once it is allocated to you, you are expected to follow certain terms and conditions, including starting to develop it in 18 months, constructing factory/office buildings in 2 years, roofing the structures in 3 years, and installing machinery in 4 years. Failure to follow these guidelines will result in the withdrawal of allocated land (through public notices),” he said.
“Any attempt by fraudsters or corrupt people to sell land to investors should be brought to my attention immediately through the hotline. We do not wish to see saboteurs derail the President’s industrialization agenda.”
He said that the government has recorded a surge in the number of industries following key infrastructure improvements at the Namanve Industrial and Business Park.
The government has been implementing key infrastructure developments at Namanve through contractor-facilitated financing arrangements. They include tarmacking over 44 kilometers of road networks, bridges, traffic management systems, solar lighting, water, and power distribution systems.
Before 2016, the Park had only 22 factories, a slow progress attributed to the complex geographical topography of the area. The area now has 258 operational factories and a total of 500 is expected by the end of 2025, according to State Minister for Investment Evelyn Anite.
The Namanve Industrial Park, a 735 billion Shillings investment is among 25 Industrial & Business Parks being developed by the Uganda Investment Authority around the Country to create more jobs, ease accessibility of land for investments, introduce new research, technologies, and skills development as well as increase Uganda’s revenue base. The completion of these industrial parks will add value to locally available raw materials thus boosting the agricultural and mineral sectors.
Sitting on 2,209 acres, about 8.9 sq miles of land along the Kampala-Jinja highway, Namanve Industrial Park, also known as the Kampala Industrial and Business Park (KIBP) is the largest industrial park in the country established in 1991.
The flagship industrial park was created by an Act of Parliament in 1997 and is being operated by the UIA, the country’s primary investment promotion agency and provider of one-stop services for both domestic and foreign investors.
