The Minister of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives Hon. Sanjay Tanna, together with the State Minister for Industry Hon. David Bahati participated in the Presidential CEO Forum 2nd Information Tour, which took place at the Kampala Industrial and Business Park, Namanve.
The Tour themed “Amplifying Uganda’s Industrial Agenda for a Ten-Fold Growth Economy” was organised in partnership with Uganda Investment Authority.
The minister, together with other officials, conducted factory visits to four industries, including Ntake Edible Oil Refinery, Luuka Plastics, Steel and Tube Industry, and Staunch Machinery. The tour aimed at assessing Uganda’s industrial progress and engaging manufacturers on their contribution to the country’s ambition of growing the economy tenfold by 2040.
Manufacturers cited erratic power supply, poor roads, among others, as bottlenecks, raising production costs and disrupting supply chains.
Hon. Tanna commended the proprietors of the four indutries for their investments, urging them to adopt clean energy solutions like solar to support the government’s Net Metering Initiative. He further called for local skilling and apprenticeship initiatives in the industrial and manufacturing sectors to reduce unemployment.
Hon. Bahati applauded the investors for collectively contributing approx. 250 bn Ugx in taxes and employing over 3,000 Ugandans. He urged practical governance and defended open investment policies.
Together, the ministers promised government intervention to address the bottlenecks to Uganda’s industrialization agenda and also urged private sector solutions.
