Kakira Sugar Works

In 1920, the Vithaldas Haridas & Company, under the management of Muljibhai Madhvani, a twenty-six-year-old Indian-born Ugandan businessman, entrepreneur, industrialist and philanthropist, purchased 800 acres (3.2 km2) of land, in Kakira, between Jinja and Iganga, for the purpose of starting a sugar factory. Muljibhai later became the managing director of Vithaldas Haridas & Company. That sugar complex, later renamed Kakira Sugar Works, opened in 1930. By adding to the original parcel of land, through purchases, the company land holdings at Kakira, were in excess of 9,500 hectares (37 mi2), as of April 2009. The sugar manufacturing complex at Kakira employs over 7,500 people, according to the company website.

In 1987, Kakira Sugar Works went through a $59.38 million rehabilitation program funded by the World Bank and the African Development Bank. In 2000, the Madhvani group acquired 100% of Kakira Sugar Works' shares.

Location

The main factories of the company are located in the town of Kakira, in Jinja District, Eastern Uganda. This location lies approximately 16 kilometres (9.9 mi), by road, northeast of Jinja, the nearest large town. Kakira is located approximately 100 kilometres (62 mi), by road, east of Kampala, the capital of Uganda and the largest city in that country. The coordinates of the main factory are:0°30'36.0"N, 33°17'24.0"E (Latitude:0.5100; Longitude:33.2900). In addition to the factories in Kakira, the company maintains a corporate office along 5th Street, in Bugolobi, in Kampala Industrial Area, and offices and warehouses, in Kakira, Jinja and Kampala.

Ethanol production

In November 2016, Kakira Sugar Works started production of industrial-grade ethanol, distilled from molasses, produced as a by-product of sugar manufacturing. The ethanol distillery, was constructed by Praj Industries of India, at a cost of USh 133 billion (US$36.6 million). The distillery is expected to process the 74,000 metric tonnes of molasses that the sugar mill produces annually, into 20,000,000 litres (4,399,385 imp gal; 5,283,441 US gal) of "fuel grade anhydrous ethanol".