The UK trade envoy to Uganda, Lord Dolar Popat, has promised to invest £2b in Uganda’s industrial parks in the next five years.
Speaking during a tour of the Namanve Industrial and Business Park on Tuesday, Lord Popat said the UK government wants to turn the park into a model establishment.
“I am pleased to say that we have £500m available to Uganda and we will raise it to £2.5bn to support Uganda achieve its target of setting up five industrial parks each year for the next five years,” he said.
“We will support Uganda through Uganda Investment Authority (UIA) as long as we complete this park (Namanve) to be a good role model for us. We are committed to investing in Uganda because it is my country of birth,” Mr Popat added.
British High Commissioner to Uganda Kate Airey expressed optimism that the park will transform Uganda’s industrialisation agenda.
“Infrastructure development in Namanve Industrial park is an incredible venture. It will create jobs. It’s important to both Uganda and UK. This project is key for job creation and prosperity of Uganda,” she said.
The construction of Kampala Industrial Park, Namanve is funded through a facility from United Kingdom Export Finance (UKEF) at Euro215 million and is to be completed in January 2024.
Dr Robert Mukiza, the director general of UIA, said works on the industrial park, which started in 2020, now stand at 17 percent.
“The project’s financial progress stands at 12.4 percent for Lagan Dott Namanve Limited and 10 percent for the owner’s engineer majorly due to a draw stop by UK Export Finance on all pending invoices and the lack of funding for the Owner’s Engineer’s fees,” Mr Mukiza said.