Government to construct power sub station in Mbale industrial park

Mbale, Uganda |  THE INDEPENDENT |  The Privatization and Investments State minister, Evelyn Anite has revealed government plans to construct a power substation in Mbale City industrial park to overcome the challenge of power outages. 

According to Anite, the substation will also help reduce the heavy costs of power for running the park.

Anite was speaking at the launch of Grace Form Limited, the fifth factory in the industrial park. The factory will be producing praying mats and mattresses. 

According to Anite, investors often complain to the government about the high costs of power and the challenge of load shedding.

She also said the government is committed to finding the market for their products both in Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo where they are constructing a link road and other African countries. 

Anite used the same event to caution politicians against disrupting the activities of investors to get political capital and get bribes, saying the industrial park should only be used to employ young people in the area to foster the development agenda.

Owen Jin, the Public Relations Officer of Sino Uganda, said that the newly commissioned Grace Form factory will employ more than 700 Ugandans.

He, however, decried the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the progress of the industrial park, saying there are no investors.  

Mbale City Industrial Park was officially commissioned by president, Yoweri Museveni in March this year.

The other factories in the park include Pearlight Technology, which manufactures energy saving bulbs, Ubon Technology, which produces powder, Victoria Cable Limited manufacturing cables and Kyoga Capital Textile Limited, which is producing stockings. 

The Park, with a total investment of more than US $600M (Shs2.2 trillion), is expected to house more than 50 factories and employ more than 15,000 youth.

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