Soroti, Uganda | URN | Soroti City authorities are raising concern over the continued idleness of land in the Soroti Industrial and Business Park, more than a decade after it was allocated to investors. The park, established in 2012 after the Uganda Investment Authority (UIA) secured 219 acres of land in Soroti City, has only three operational developments out of 25 plots allocated to investors, according to city authorities.
The remaining plots have largely remained undeveloped, with some sections overgrown with bushes, raising concerns about the failure to achieve the park’s intended economic and employment benefits. The project was expected to generate revenue for the city and create up to 25,000 direct and indirect jobs for young people in Teso and beyond.
Soroti City Mayor Francis Esudu said the city has raised the matter with the Ministry of Investment, but no action has so far been taken. He said the city authorities were not involved when the plots were allocated, making it difficult for them to establish who owns the different plots or what plans the respective investors have for the land.
“And the challenge is that when the Ministry was allocating the plots, the city council authorities were not involved; therefore, they don’t know who owns what part of the plots and what plans they have,” Esudu said. He said the failure to utilise the park was denying the city opportunities to create employment for its growing population, particularly young people who move to Soroti in search of jobs.
“Many young people flock to the city in search of jobs but cannot be absorbed, but if this was utilized, it would create more jobs,” he said.
Esudu called on the government to intervene by either attracting new investors who are willing to develop the park or compelling those already allocated plots to utilise them. Paul Batanda, the Soroti City Town Clerk, said city leaders were concerned that the industrial park had not developed as expected.
He said the city was engaging the managers of the industrial park and investors allocated the plots to establish what they were doing with the land. “The leaders are concerned because some activities at the park are not industrial,” Batanda said. The concerns come amid government efforts to promote industrial parks as centres for investment, employment and economic growth.
In July, Uganda Investment Authority Director General Robert Mukisa said 14 of the planned industrial and business parks across the country were fully operational, with 463 companies operating in the parks. Industrial parks are intended to provide organised spaces for manufacturing and other businesses, while supporting investment, job creation and local economic development.
However, in Soroti, city authorities say the limited development of the park has left a significant portion of the land idle, more than ten years after it was established.
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