Tucked in the remote central Ugandan district of Nakaseke, Liaoshen Industrial Park is helping to set pace for industrialization in the East African country using the park model.
The park late last month received an award from government for being the first model one-stop-center industrial park in the country.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni presented the certificate of recognition to Zhang Hao, the managing director of Liaoshen Industrial Park.
The park will be a benchmark for the development of other industrial parks in the country, according to government. Government has created over 20 industrial parks in different parts of the country in efforts for industrialization.
Covering an area of some 600 acres, Liaoshen Industrial Park, is expected to accommodate 80 industries and employ up to 16,000 people by 2025.
The park currently accommodates 13 factories and employs about 2,500 local people. Late last year, park management projected the number of factories to grow to 35 and employing over 8,000 people this year.
Chinese investors will invest about 600 million U.S. dollars in the industrial park before it is in full operation, according to Chinese embassy figures. Government figures show that so far about 200 million dollars have been invested in the park.
Liaoshen is one of the several Chinese invested industrial parks in Uganda. Other Chinese industrial parks include Mukono Industrial Park, Shandong Industrial Park, Kehong China-Uganda Agricultural Industrial Park in central region, and Sino-Uganda Industrial Park in Mbale district, eastern region.
Uganda is prioritizing industrialization as one of the key drivers of its renewed import substitution policy. According to ministry of finance, industrialization is critical in the government's efforts to become a middle-income country.
Government in December last year approved a plan to extend power transmission lines to the industrial parks in the central and eastern part of the country.
Government says the rate at which the manufacturing base is expanding is unprecedented. Last financial year, which ended in June 2020, 168 manufacturing industries and factories were built.
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