Madhvani wants more 10,000 hecter of land

CAPTION: A sugar cane farmer in the garden taking care of his crops. (File photo).
By Our reporter
JINJA – Madhvani Group of companies has shown interest in acquiring additional 10,000 acres of land in Kololo Parish, Lakang Sub-County in Amuru district for the establishment of a sugar factory plant through the Amuru Sugar Works Ltd.
The move was revealed by Amuru district leaders who held a meeting with the top executives of the Madhvani group of Companies at Kakira Sugar Factory plant in Jinja city last week.
The meeting followed concerns by the leaders over the delayed establishment of the sugar factory in Lakang Sub-county where the government in partnership with Madhvani Group of Companies had already acquired 8,600 hectares of land.
Both the government and the Madhvani group of companies entered into a joint venture agreement to establish a sugarcane processing facility in Lakang sub-county targeting the creation of 9,000 direct job opportunities and boosting sugar export potential.
Amuru Resident District Commissioner Geoffrey Osborn Oceng told Uganda Radio Network in an interview Monday that the request for the additional land is to enable sugarcane out growers to be incorporated within the project.
According to the Uganda Development Corporation, the Amuru Sugar Works project targets the off-take of sugarcane for at least 3,000 out-growers within Lakang Sub-county.
Oceng says the potential landowners have already been identified adding that processes of conducting verification will be held before their lists are submitted to the lands ministry for compensation to avoid fraud.
Amuru District Chairperson Michael Lakony noted that as district leaders, they have no objection to the request for more land by the Madhvani Group of Companies as long as the acquisition will be transparent and the landowners get compensation.
Lakony said the local government staff from the lands department have already identified the location of the 10,000 hectares of land in Kololo parish and will soon start holding engagements with the landowners.
K P Eswar, the Director of Corporate Affairs at Madhvani Group of Companies told URN that the request for more land seeks to suit the viability of the factory given its proposed size. He says initially, the Group requested 20,000 hectares of land out of which only 10,000 hectares was granted by the government.
“This is not a new request, we need 20,000 hectares as nucleus estate and 10,000 hectares for out growers on a commercial basis,” says Eswar.