MBALE – President Museveni has in a bid to fight-on escalating unemployment in the country launched Sino-Uganda Mbale Industrial Park project which he said will bring 15,000 jobs directly.
At the launch on Thursday, March 19 in Mbale, Museveni said that the park has a capacity of 60 factories, adding that “this is an opportunity for us to employ our people and improve our manufacturing capacity. We are going to ensure there is enough electricity to power this project.”
Museveni said that Sino-Uganda is already employing over 800 Ugandans in Pearl Light Technologies which manufactures LED bulbs, Ubon Personal Care which manufactures washing detergent, and Victoria Cables (electric cables), Kyoga textiles (making socks).
He said that while creating jobs, the government will also be saving by manufacturing a number of products the country has been importing.
Museveni revealed that the cable factory alone is going to save the nation about Shs810b on cable imports and the LED bulb factory about Shs17b in imports.
Last year, Museveni commissioned the construction of this Park as part of the “industrialisation agenda”, where a total of 22 industrial parks are meant to be created across the country.
This park has among other factories; Pearl Light Technologies which is manufacturing LED bulbs, Ubon Personal Care which manufactures washing detergent, and Victoria Cables which is manufacturing electric cables.
The president in the statement he shared on his Facebook page on Thursday afternoon, he revealed that the government is also drafting a new policy requiring investors to purchase raw materials in areas where the companies are located to ensure that local materials and labour force are prioritised.