MBALE, October 5, 2023 – Sino Uganda- Mbale Industrial Park intends to create more than 10,000 jobs, according to its chairperson, Paul Zhang.
Established on 619 acres in Mbale City by Tian Tang Group, the industrial park was commissioned in 2018 by President Museveni as part of government efforts to drive industrialisation and job creation.
The park is a home to producers of various items such as LED bulbs, solar panels, electric kettles, Grace mattresses, play mats, bed covers, bed sheets, socks, baby diapers, sole tapes, Woolen blankets, woofers, assembled flat TV sets, washing detergents, and electric cables among others.
Zhang made the remarks while addressing leaders of Inzu Ya Masaba Cultural Institution at the park’s premises located along Mbale-Tirinyi road, a few kilometres from the city centre.
“The Chinese don’t sleep; they work 24 hours. We have added more than 1500 jobs to people in Mbale and our target by next year is to create more 10,000 jobs,” Zhang said.
He said Chinese investors are planning to construct more factories in the park.
Zhang revealed that the park had so far created 2,000 employment opportunities for the for the neighbouring population.
According to Evelyn Anite, the State Minister for Finance for Investment and Privatisation, the Chinese project has attracted several investors.
She said the park has 40 manufacturing industries employing over 2, 000 workers.
“We are not only focusing on manufacturing but also offer opportunities in skills and vocation training for the youth in our technology and manufacturing production to enable the young generation to take over some of the positions in the competitive labour force,” she said.
Zhang, said a professional team was deployed in different provinces of China to attract investors for the park.
Twenty acres out of the 619-acre park has been designated for a small and medium enterprise incubation base with a total investment cost of US$ 80 million.
On Aug 24,2023, President Museveni commissioned more 16 factories and made a groundbreaking for another nine at Sino Uganda-Mbale Industrial Park in Mbale City.
“You remember this site here was a bush some years ago but now we have a labour force of 2,000 with 36 factories here… all this is because of policy decisions but policy decisions using our resources because the stimulus which brings investors here is the market,” Museveni said.
Museveni said there is a conducive environment for supporting investments in the country and that the market for goods and services was available.
He explained: “These investors have spectacles that enable them to detect where there is money. It is upon us to provide a conducive environment that enables whoever wants to invest to come. That is our role. With a proper policy, everything does itself, that is why a person you least know about approaches you that they want to set up a textile factory. They do this because they know Ugandans must dress up and they have the required raw materials here needed to produce clothes. Then that is how government comes in to catalyse the process by providing electricity, peace, roads, and other needed infrastructure.”
He added that investors have a market in Uganda, East Africa and the rest of Africa which has a combined population of about 1.5 billion people.
Sino-Uganda Mbale Industrial Park focuses on agricultural products processing, metallurgy and building materials, machinery manufacturing, daily necessities like clothes and textile, electronic gadgets, pharmaceutical and chemical industries.
The Ambassador of China to Uganda Zhang Lizhong said China and Uganda are working together to implement the nine programmes announced by President Xi Jin Ping of China in the latest China – Africa Summit.
Inzu Ya Masaba cultural leader, Mike Jude Mudoma, commended the investors in the park for investing in Bugisu Sub-region.
“These investors are improving the welfare of our people by creating jobs for over 2,000 youth who could be problems in the communities. This is what we call social economic transformation of this area,” Mudoma said.
Some of the factories in the industrial park include Tmi technology, General Wares Uganda Ltd, Ujia Innovation Technology, Clear Space Chemical industries East Africa Ltd, among others.
The park currently pays about Shs 4bln in taxes each year.
https://thecooperator.news/mbale-women-urged-to-embrace-govt-programmes/
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