Arua SEZ Ltd is a Winner of the 2019 Uganda Responsible Investment Award (URI Award) held on 22nd November 2019 at Imperial Royale Hotel Kampala during a High Level Uganda Responsible Investment Summit and Award Ceremony presided over by H.E Yoweri Kaguta Museveni President of the Republic of Uganda and Hon Evelyn Anite Minister of State for Privatisation and Investment. The 2019 Uganda Responsible Investment Summit and Award Ceremony was organised by Public Opinions and Office of the Minister of State for Privatisation and Investment. The award is offered to Companies and organisations which promote and uphold International Best Standards and Practices and have made tremendous contributions towards attainment of Uganda Vision 2040 and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Arua SEZ Ltd was incorporated to develop and operate a Free Zone in Arua Municipality-West Nile region of Uganda. It will provide dedicated infrastructure to attract Greenfield Foreign Direct Investment [FDI] and Domestic Direct Investment to job creating export oriented enterprises that will operate in the Free Zone.
The Free Zone is best suited to be located in Arua because of its proximity to the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan, both major export destinations for goods originating from Uganda. They are also sources of unique base metals and timber that are highly sought after in the international market, thus presenting an opportunity for bi-directional flow of Trade to and from these countries. In an organized manner that is sensitive to the environment and the need to stop illicit trade.
The project will be anchored on Ware houses to facilitate the activities of; labeling, packing and repacking, sorting, grading, cleaning and mixing (agro processing) and breaking of bulk. In future expansion Arua SEZ will consider Aquaculture by the local community along the river Nile, Arua SEZ will house a purpose built Fish processing Unit, to provide demand to local communities farmed fish outputs for secondary processing into the fish derivatives of Feed, Omega and fillet for export thus achieving the integration of local communities into the global fish derivatives value chains. Timber processing into finished manufactures for export.
OUR VISION
A leading Special Economic Zone in East and Central Africa
OUR MISSION
To build Industrial and warehouse Facilities to enhance International Trade, Manufacturing and Agro processing through efficient investor promotion and facilitation.
OBJECTIVES
SEZs are established with the aim of achieving one or more of the following four policy objectives
- To attract foreign direct investment (FDI): Virtually all zones programs, from traditional EPZ to China’s large-scale SEZs aim, at least in part,to attract FDI.
- To serve as “pressure valves” to alleviate large-scale unemployment: The SEZ programs of Tunisia and the Dominican Republic have successful job-creating programs.
- To support economic reform strategy: In this view, SEZs are a simple tool permitting a country to develop and diversify exports. The SEZs of China; the Republic of Korea; Mauritius; and Taiwan,China, follow this pattern.
The Activities below will mainly be undertaken by business enterprises that will be tenants of the Free Zone. The Activities targeted will include;
- Warehousing and Storage
- Labeling, packing and repacking
- Sorting, grading, cleaning and mixing
- Breaking bulk
- Simple assembly
- Grouping of packages
Arua SEZ Ltd seeks to establish a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Arua, Uganda with the aim of accelerating growth of small exporting enterprises (not start-ups), through provision of appropriate infrastructure and business support services(market linkage, supply chain and customs facilitation). Arua SEZ will provide custom built facilities such as; warehouses, agro processing zone with a focus on fish processing, office block (canteen, trade service providers and virtual offices to provide administrative services to the operators in the Zone) and industrial real estate units.
Having identified the need and the strategic location that Arua town presents, we have no doubt that the free zone area will be of great benefit to Uganda, the West Nile region and specifically create employment for people around it while also offering an attractive return for the investors/promoters.
With hindsight of the above, Arua SEZ Ltd would like to develop and operate a free zone in Arua in which they will construct a total of 17 (seventeen) warehouses (that have all necessary facilities within the zone), and office space that shall accelerate business within this region and in return collect rental and management fees.
When set up, the Free zone will not only boost regional trade and export but could also offer other business advantages to factories located in the zone such as; 10 year income tax rebate, zero customs duties, and business friendly regulatory requirements for registration of business and focused priority trade facilitation to increase trade efficiency – which will make the zone attractive to manufacturing SME’s, export companies oriented companies and multinationals targeting the DRC and South Sudan Markets.
PRODUCTS AND SERVICE
1. THE PRODUCT: INFRASTRUCTURE IN THE PARK
2. ARUA SEZ SERVICES
THE RATIONALE FOR CHOOSING ARUA SEZ AS A LOCATION
- Arua SEZ owns an enclosed area of 13 hectares and surrounding expansion area of 20 hectares acres serviced by; three phase power [transformer and backup generator installed]and water. The site is linked to major transportation corridors and facilities [Arua Airfield, tamarc roads, and the proposed Standard Gauge Railway will have an extension to Packwach in West Nile region thus easing the flow of both inward and outward trade.
- Availability of Labour
- Arua is located near major Mineral resources that are key inputs on key global value chains. Therefore the Natural Resource type of industrial Zone can grow augmented by the development of a dedicated Free Zone. In addition, Arua has local raw materials such as honey, fish and lumber that can be processed in ARUA SEZ as additional attraction for Multinational Enterprises.
- Exogenous enhancement for the development of ARUA SEZ has been provided by the backing of a clear legal enhancement for customs incentives that acts as an additional positive factor for its development. The incentives provided by the Free Zones act are one of the main reasons Arua SEZ viability is increased as an attractive location for enterprises. When Licensed Arua SEZ will take the form of a geographical economic park located outside the customs territory of Uganda and the East African community. Within Arua SEZ, investing enterprises mainly foreign enterprises will enjoy preferential benefits such as duty free importation of raw materials, conditioned on the exportation os at least eighty percent of the products outside the customs territory. In addition exports will not be subject to customs duties.
Arua SEZ Ltd
Arua (Head office);
Plot M22A-D off Ujio Road Adriko Cell
Kenya Ward, River Oli Division,
Arua municipality , Arua district.
Kampala (Operations Office);
Plot 10 Lower Kololo Terrace, Central Division
Kampala district
P.O Box 6402 Kampala
Tel: +256 782 210 855,
+256 780 379 209