By Donald Kiirya

INVESTORS should not shy away from developing Jinja, if it is to grow.

“It’s not good for people to praise the colonialists for constructing housing estates in Walukuba and Mpumudde. Invest in the area to solve the problem of unemployment, because it is still a challenge to the economy of the area,” the energy minister, Daudi Migereko, said.

He added: “I do not agree with people looking for investors from Kampala to open up investments in Jinja. We people of Jinja can do this by constructing bigger complexes and hotels to increase tourism.”

He said people’s attitude towards change will be the solution to revamping Jinja.

Migereko was last week speaking at a function to mark the first anniversary of Nile View Casino, belonging to Visvar Investments Ltd in Jinja.

He said investment incentives for the hospitality industry were available for investors, adding that those denied the incentives should make use of the area political leaders to get them.

The executive director of Visvar Investments Ltd, Budget Mugabirwe, had reported to Migereko that Uganda Investment Authority denied incentives to local investors.

“As a local investor, if I tell the Authority that I have invested sh2.7b to put up a complex in Jinja, and I need incentives on items I am going to import, I would be told to wait, yet foreign investors are quickly given incentives on their items.”