An artist’s impression of Liaoshen Industry Park, which is located in Luwero, Uganda. [Photo/Xinhua]

The projects settlement signing ceremony for Liaoshen Industry Park in Uganda was held in Liaoning Friendship Hotel, Shenyang, Liaoning province on Jan 9, Xinhua reported.

Liaoshen Industry Park, which is located at Luwero in central Uganda, 45 kilometers away from Uganda’s capital city Kampala, is the first provincial-level economic and trade cooperation zone project in Africa with the backing of the Commerce Department of Liaoning province and Liaoning People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries.

Covering an area of 2.6 square kilometers, Liaoshen Industry Park has received investment from two private businesses –– China’s Zhongda Group and Uganda’s Zhang Group –– and total investment in the industrial park is around $600 million. It is anticipated that Liaoshen Industry Park will contain 50 businesses and create around 10,000 jobs in Uganda when it’s completed.

Geared to the needs of the East African market, Liaoshen Industry Park will take advantage of rich resources and preferential policies in Uganda, along with advanced production technology and management experience from Liaoning province to build itself into an international industrial park.

The industrial park will mainly house businesses involved in the manufacturing of automobiles, auto parts, household appliances, building materials, and food processing, textiles and light industry.

Liaoshen Industry Park began construction on Dec 3, 2015.

Currently, the construction of infrastructure and project promotional work at the park is underway. Many of Liaoning province’s industrial projects, such as Kangwang ceramics project, Hemuyuan food project and Tianyuxin prefab house project, affirmed their settlement in Liaoshen Industry Park at a signing ceremony held in Shenyang on Jan 9.

To support the development of Liaoshen Industry Park, Uganda has enacted several preferential policies for the facility.

All the businesses settling in the park will be exempt from duties when importing equipment and raw materials, and they do not need to pay corporate income tax during their first 10 years of operations.

Meanwhile, Uganda has established customs and tax administration facilities in Liaoshen Industry Park, which will provide a one-stop service for imported and exported goods, saving time and money for businesses.