UIA Enters $70 Billion Development Deal with Malaysian Firm

by Bridget Asiimwe (The Observer) Uganda Investment Authority has entered a multi-billion deal with a Malaysian firm with an aim of transforming the country into a green economy by 2040 through a series of four integrated green projects led by bio-fuels.

The $70bn project will be implemented by Bionas East Africa Group Limited, a subsidiary of Bionas Agropolitan Technology Corridor (BATC) Development Berhad.

The implementation will be through a public-private partnership on a build-operate-transfer model. According to a memorandum of understanding signed by the UIA executive director Jolly Kaguhangire with Bionas on February 23, 2018, after 25 years, the investors will leave and everything will go back to the government.

The BATC international construction consortium will bring in 100 per cent investment for all the projects. It will also provide a certified regime of the best technologies of Jatropha Curcas seeds, nursery and plantations systems, press mill, bio-addictives and biofuels production.

UIA has initiated discussions with the ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development as well as that of local government for land allocation.

Kaguhangire, however, urged Ugandans to collaborate and provide land for the project to run in their areas because the development is people-centred.

At every block, there will be schools, hospitals and other business uncommon in rural areas. Above all, rural electrification is one of the main objectives of this project.

As a strategy for climate change mitigation, a total of 4.12 billion Jatropha trees will be planted within the 240 blocks.

According to Bionas, the project will be implemented by a consortium of 21 Malaysian and six Chinese companies with various required expertise. READ MORE