Slow infrastructure development frustrates Namanve investors
Apr 16, 2014
Investors are agitated by the lack of coordination between government agencies and the slow progress of fixing the wanting infrastructure in gazetted industrial parks.
By David Mugabe
Investors are agitated by the lack of coordination between government agencies and the slow progress of fixing the wanting infrastructure in gazetted industrial parks.
During a breakfast session at the Kampala Serena on Wednesday, investors including those that have been awarded prime land at Namanve Industrial park demanded to know whether there is a timeline to when the park will have water, electricity and tarmac road.
Dino Bianchi, Toyota Uganda managing director echoed what he considers a very slow process at road, water and power works that would make it attractive for investors with land to start developing their sites.
Uganda Investment Authority (UIA) chief, Dr Frank Ssebowa said he had on many occasions met the Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) team but no one gives a concrete answer based on timelines on when they would work on the infrastructure projects.
“I also don’t know,” replied Ssebowa when pressed further by Bianchi.
But Bianchi retorted saying: “It is your job to find out when these people will do the job, I have been to the ministry of works and no one gives us a timeline, we cannot move equipment just like that.”
No official from (UNRA) attended the meeting although.
Ssebowa also disclosed how four institutions among them KCCA, Umeme and the Lands ministry had frustrated the efforts to attract investments through the continuous poor perception about a bad investment climate.
He said World Bank surveys indicated that it took several months just to get power to industrial land while people in lands ministry were politicking instead of clearing land transactions.
Uganda was ranked 132nd out 189 economies in the latest World Bank Doing Report from the 120th position attained last year out of 182