Africa-Press – Uganda. Crown Beverages, the franchise bottler of Pepsi and other products, has said it will rely on the $90m (Shs336b) new plant to expand its product portfolio to meet new and emerging consumer tastes and preferences.
Speaking at the launch of the plant in Kakungulu, Kajjansi Town Council in Wakiso District, Mr Eugene Willemsen, the PepsiCo Africa, Middle East & South Asia chief executive officer, said the plant, built at a cost of $76m (Shs283.7b), which is the first phase of a $90m (Shs336b) expansion project, was being undertaken to meet new demand, as well as expand its product portfolio to meet new and emerging consumer tastes.
“As we gear up for the next chapter in Uganda, we are extremely proud of what has been accomplished and look forward to a great future. With this facility, we hope to further expand our portfolio and we have started doing so with the addition of Aquafina,” he said, noting that the 30 year partnership between PepsiCo and Crown Beverages, steered by executive chairman Amos Nzeyi, and other board members including Dr Maggie Kigozi, Mr Chris Kayoboke, and Paddy Muramiirah, the Crown Beverages chief executive office, started with humble beginnings but had grown into one of Uganda’s largest businesses.
The plant was financed by a mixture of shareholder and PepsiCo contributions, loans from Citibank and Stanbic.
The beverages industry has been expanding in the last four years, with stakeholders in the soft drinks sector investing more than $277m (Shs1 trillion)since 2017, according to a tax consideration letter, written to the Parliamentary Committee on Finance, Planning and Economic Development, recently.
In a speech read by Vice President Jessica Alupo, President Museveni indicated that the success registered by Crown Beverages and other formerly government-owned companies vindicated government’s privatisation strategy, noting that at the time of privatisation, Lake Victoria Bottling Company was only producing 1.8m cartons of soda annually but Crown Beverages has seen it grow to 65 million cartons annually.
“Before privatisation, government used to subsidise [Lake Victoria Bottling Company], which means Ugandans were supporting the company with their taxes. We are happy to note that the company is now supporting Ugandans by providing Shs200b in taxes annually,” he said, noting that the $90m (Shs336b) was testimony that Mr Nzeyi, Mr Kayoboke, Dr Kigozi and their partners had confidence in government.
Installed capacity
Crown Beverages also indicated that the second phase of the expansion, which is already underway, is scheduled to be completed in November at a cost of $24m (Shs89.6b).
Mr Nzeyi noted that the Kakungulu plant has an installed capacity of 116,000 bottles per hour with the ability to produce 80,000 bottles of carbonated soft drinks and 36,000 bottles of water per hour.
“We still have [to complete] a new site that we have embarked on at Kakungulu. The lines have been bought, and are to be installed in the under-construction buildings. The buildings will be finished in three months and the two new lines installed starting September this year and will start operating on November 1,” he said.
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