The state minister for trade and investment, Evelyn Anite warned National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA) against evicting investors at gazetted industrial parks.
Anite was meeting hundreds of local and foreign investor doing business at Namanve industrial
They said taxes, constant power outages and poor roads are their problems and therefore they are asking for these to be addressed so that they too can volunteer in their jobs.
“Hon. Minister, we invest a lot of money in our machines and they cannot withstand the dust from the bad roads in the park, and NEMA is another big problem to us they always halt our construction works”. Investors cried out.
They also raised concerns over the national environment management Authority’s actions of sabotaging their developments and UNBS’s high laboratory fees and the bureaucracy in certifying their products that these have severely affected investments.
Among the investors was Ntake, a popular, who urged for better cooperation between government agencies including NEMA and UIA to enable investors to do their jobs more efficiently.
However, when relevant officials from agencies such as UNBS’s Board chairman Charles Musekuura pledged to solve the cost issue in the laboratory services at UNBS.
Minister Anite urged NEMA not to interfere in the Namanve industrial park, as the government gazetted it as an industrial park in 1991 with the knowledge that there are wetlands
“The people who gazetted this industrial park in 1991 knew very well that there was a forest and a wetland in it, so stay away from investors” Anite warned.
Anite assures investors that the government will provide roads, water, electricity and street lighting because the government has already contracted lagan contractors to work upon the project, Anite continued to warn investors with vacant land that the government will reclaim it.
However, Anite’s warning to National environment management authority (NEMA) angered the minister Beatrice Anywar who is a direct supervisor of NEMA and Sam Lokeris the minister of water and environment.
The two ministers accused Anite for doing the work which she is not supposed to do, Anywar warned her to respect other people’s ministries.
