A massive deep hole and persistent flooding in Namanve Industrial Park’sSouth ‘C’ Estate have disrupted transport and business operations, sparking anger among investors and renewed criticism of the Uganda Investment
Authority (UIA) and its infrastructure developer, Lagan Dott.
Namanve area LC1 chairperson, Mathias Mutyaba said that following heavy rains, the area near the railway crossing in South ‘C’ Estate has been repeatedly flooded, forcing Lagan Dott to begin installing large culverts as an emergency
measure.
In the process, he said a railway line that had been reconstructed barely a year and a half ago by a Spanish contractor at significant cost to Uganda Railways Corporation (URC) has been completely removed and once the Culverts are
completed, replace again.
South ‘C’ Estate hosts nearly 70 per cent of the park’s major industries, including coffee processors, steel and aluminium manufacturers, and food exporters. However, investors say the area was totally neglected for years as
UIA and Lagan Dott focused development on the less busy South ‘A’ Estate, where proper drainage systems were installed earlier for financial reasons.
The affected railway crossing and its interlinking roads handle close to 500 trucks daily about 80 per cent of all truck traffic in the industrial park making it one of the busiest industrial transport corridors in the whole country. Investors argue that authorities are now attempting to “patch up” South ‘C’, which was the park’s first development zone and was originally marketed as having heavy- duty roads, Network, power, sewage, drainage and internet infrastructure services that, they say, have largely not been delivered.
The closure of the railway crossing for three months has triggered severe traffic congestion across the park and surrounding areas. Of particular concern is the bridge near Roofings, which is now carrying all diverted heavy truck traffic.
Investors warn that the bridge urgently needs attention, yet no engineers from UIA, Lagan Dott, URC or the Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) have publicly presented a solution, raising fears of a possible structural failure
which would be devasting.
“It is unprofessional to undertake such large-scale works without traffic management plans, alternative routes or personnel to guide motorists,” one investor said, noting that delays, fuel costs and logistical disruptions have already resulted in losses running into billions of shillings and there was even talk of suing UIA for compensation.
Companies say their transport chains relying on the railway crossing road, Jokas route, the Roofings bridge and the road towards UCU have been severely affected. They further accuse UIA and Lagan Dott of closing the crossing
overnight without consulting stakeholders or engaging companies to mitigate congestion.
Similar concerns have been raised over drainage designs in South ‘C’ and South ‘B’ estates, which investors claim encroach on freehold and Mailo land, again without stakeholder involvement. From the outset, investors say they called for a world-class industrial park FOR ALL INVESTORS with a comprehensive, phased development plan starting with drainage and road infrastructure, overseen by a stakeholder steering committee proposals they say were rejected.
Investors are now appealing to government agencies to ensure equal treatment of all industries in the park and to prioritise professional, park-wide infrastructure planning. They are also calling on UIA to produce an accurate, inclusive industrial map showing all estates, industries and road networks to give government a true picture of realities on the ground. For some reasons upto today UIA, Lagan have completely refused this Plan, but imagine in 10 years, no one will know where the culverts (probably) blocked and other infrastructure is present. The handover of the Park in the long term to the Municipalities, Engineers has not been considered, as a result the Parks moves
from one cataphoric event to another.
The appeal from all Investors, is that every single Industry in the Park should receive equal treatment, even those where commissions were not paid to officials, It is The Patriotic Duty of UIA, Lagan and Minister of Investments,
as part of their Civic Duty, to consider all investors, so that any Infrastructure development, encompasses the Entire Park for Roads, Sewage, Drainage in a sensible, practical and professional manner without that mindset, of their self
interest and no patriotism upto now. 5 years later the Industrial Park as shown by UIA is having merely only 3 Estates. And yet there are hundreds of Industries such as Export Trading, Classic, PGS, etc., and many others are not
shown. For heavens sake produce an Industrial Map that is Patriotic and shows all Industries and all the Road Networks, to be fully used, in the Interests of the Whole Country, not a few and all Investors. Its time for UIA and others to now show, finally, after 5 years that they represent all Investors and have true Patriotism at Heart. Time for action, on the ground, as UIA must reach out to all Investors in Namanve Industrial Park, with good faith, honesty, trust and practical solutions. UIA must finally produce and official publish a MAP AN COMPASSING all Industries and roads in the Park so Government has an accurate picture of the true realities on the ground.
“It is time for action,” investors said, urging UIA, Lagan Dott and the Ministryof Investment to engage openly with all stakeholders and restore confidence in Namanve Industrial Park as a national, patriotic duty for economic growth
economic hub.
