Uganda: $160 Million Palm Oil Project Stalls As Bidco Waits for Promised Land

One year down the line, Bidco Uganda Ltd is still waiting to get land for the Bugala nucleus palm oil project.

Among the reasons are absentee landlords whom the government had anticipated would readily sell their land but have since refused to do so. Another is reluctance by the government to allocate part of the Kalangala central forest reserves to Bidco following an outcry by environmentalists.
“We are mindful of the biodiversity, and that is why we do not burn trees – we clear and bury. We also leave small pockets of the original forest in our plantations,” said Mr Kodey.

In 2000, environmentalists had insisted that encroachment on any of the forest reserves on Bugala island would endanger a rare vegetation type, eptadeniastrum-Uapaca, destruction could affect the islands’ fragile ecosystem.

The government of Uganda is faced with hard choices. On one hand it has to provide land to an investment that will boost its economy – the palm oil project currently employs 2,000 people – and on the other, it has to maintain Bugala island’s biodiversity. If it fails to meet its bargain as per the contract, the investors can walk away from the deal.

AllAfrica