Government of Uganda has increased its stakes in a Atiak Sugar project located in the North and previously war torn region, injecting in the much needed funds to boost works there.
The first major factory in that region is scheduled to open in the first quarter of 2020.As of July 2019, Uganda Development Corporation (UDC), the holding company for government enterprises, had a 40 per cent stake in the company.
The other major shareholder is Horyal Investment Holdings Company Ltd (HIHC) owned by Businesswoman Amina Hersi and a host of other investors.
The project is expected to maximize sugar and power production and use the byproducts from sugar production and molasses to produce ethanol for domestic and regional markets.
Major works such as installation of equipment and construction activities on the factory that had delayed have resumed while farming activities on the more than 60,000 acre plantation are ongoing.
This was after the investor secured funds for the project and government through different agencies met its part of the bargain as planned and agreed.
Some of the works completed or almost complete include a cane preparation, handling and milling tandem, baggage handling, 50 tonne weigh bridge, auxillary cane carrier, feeder table, mill house, among others.
Hundreds of kilometres in roads throughout the farm have been built, including a bridge on one of the rivers that prevented the workers from moving easily.
Government through the National Agricultural Advisory Services (Naads) programme has disbursed Shs52b/US Dollars 14 million to facilitate sugar cane production in Atiak Sub-county, Amuru District, part of the vision to develop and support commercial agriculture and industrialisation of the country.
The fund covers all the steps of sugar plantation development including bush clearance, land preparation, seedlings planting and weeding of the crop.
