President Museveni has commissioned an ethanol distillery at Kakira Sugar Factory in Jinja on Monday.
The $36 million facility established by the Madhvani family will produce 20 million litres of ethanol annually. Kakira Sugar also produces industrial grade sugar used by pharmaceuticals in production of syrups, sugar-coating tablets and also in soft drinks.
President commended the Madhvani family for supporting Uganda’s industrialization drive and admonished those who keep labelling their enterprises as ‘Indian’.
”There are no Indian factories in Uganda,” said the President, adding, ”Indian factories are in India.This ethanol and bio-oil component is a well timed initiative as we prepare to start oil extraction. We are considering introducing a bill in Parliament on blending ethanol and petrol.”
Museveni said about the Madhvanis: ”They returned after we and others overthrew Amin and started from scratch and have now nearly tripled production to 180,000 tonnes of sugar per year. He also paid a courtesy call on the family’s matriarch, 82-year-old Maama Meena Jayant Madhvani.
In 1970 before Idi Amin expelled Indians from Uganda, Madhvani’s factory was producing 70,000 tonnes of sugar annually.
Now Kakira Sugar Works employs 9,500 people while the entire Madhvani Group has 80,000 employees.