A blazing row has broken out between Madhavani group of companies and Alarm group of companies over the construction of a new sugar factory in Jinja.
The row between the two companies revolves around the establishment of a new sugar factory by Alarm Group of companies. The factory will be established on an 80-acre piece of land located near the Jinja cemetery, at Mailo Mbili along the Jinja-Ignga road.
According to Alarm group, if completed, the new sugar factory will open its doors to 3,000 workers, offer market to out growers and contribute about three billion shillings to Uganda's gross domestic product.
Alarm group is already holding meetings with the out growers, especially those who have no contracts with Kakira sugar factory.
But this news is haunting the Madhvani group of companies, who have until recently been holding the monopoly of sugar production in the eastern region.
Madhavani group of companies, the proprietors of Kakira sugar works, are not happy about reports that the factory is being established, just about 7 kilometers away from Kakira sugar works.
Mayur Madhavani and Kamulesh Madhavani, both managing directors of Kakira sugar works, have written to president Museveni, seeking his intervention to halt the establishment of the factory.
The January 21st letter, a copy of which Uganda Radio Network has seen, states that the establishment of the new factory contravenes Government approved sugar factory policy, which does not allow another factory to be set up within a radius of 25kms from the existing factory.
The letter has also been copied to the Trade, Tourism and industrial minister, General Kahind Otaffire, who allegedly gave Alarm Group of companies the green light to establish a new factory.
The Madhavani group, say that while they are not opposed to the establishment of the new factory, they want the laws of the country to be observed in the process.
The Madhavani group also contends that they have spent millions of dollars developing out growers, whom their competitors want to exploit without any investment in them.
