Presidents Yoweri Museveni of Uganda and William Ruto of Kenya have launched a $500 (1.78 trillion UGX.million) Devki Mega Steel Plant in eastern Uganda hailing the facility as a major step toward the industrial liberation of Africa.
The vertically integrated steel facility, located in Kayoro village, Osukuru County, Tororo District, marks one of East Africa’s largest industrial investments. It is being developed by Kenyan industrialist Narendra Raval, chairman of the Devki Group.
Museveni framed the project as a historical reversal of centuries of African economic injustice.
“Today, with the groundbreaking ceremony of the Devki Mega Steel project in Tororo, alongside H.E. President William Ruto of Kenya, we are in the process of liberating Africa,” Museveni said.
He noted that for more than 500 years, the continent has suffered from exploitation that extracts raw materials without adding value. The steel plant, he said, will help reverse the trend of exporting African minerals and jobs.
“At full operationalization, we shall be one step closer to reversing the squandering of Africa’s resources human, mineral, jobs, and foreign exchange,” he added.
The facility is expected to employ 15,000 Ugandans at commencement across operations in Tororo and Mbarara, according to Raval. The industrialist said a majority of these jobs would come from the integrated steel operations and related activities supported by investments already made in the region and the upcoming iron ore refinery in Kabale.
Museveni thanked Ruto for encouraging Raval to invest in Uganda, acknowledging that regional collaboration is essential for collective prosperity. He also revealed that Raval plans another major iron ore project in Kabale, which is projected to create more than 16,000 jobs.
Museveni cautioned Ugandans against impeding the investment through compensation disputes, assuring the public that the government would handle necessary payments.
“The man is going to invest $500 million here, so please don’t bother him about money for compensation. The government will handle that, ”he said.
Ruto described the ceremony as more than the start of a factory, calling it a “bold new chapter” in Africa’s industrialization and the strengthening of regional value chains.
“We convene here not just to commission a factory, but to usher in a new, audacious chapter in Africa’s industrialization ambitions,” Ruto said.
He commended Museveni for championing regional integration, which he said enables large-scale projects like the steel plant to succeed. Ruto announced that Kenya would launch the next phase of its Standard Gauge Railway extension in January, which will eventually extend to Tororo to support manufacturing and lower transport costs.
Raval stressed that industrialization is the only path to prosperity, saying, “Importing steel is importing poverty. We must produce here, create jobs here, and empower the youth.” He pledged that 90 percent of the factory’s workforce would be Ugandans, drawing from the Tororo community and its surroundings.
First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for East African Community Affairs Rebecca Kadaga called the project an important milestone for East Africa and evidence of deepening regional industrial integration. Energy Minister Ruth Nankabirwa described the event as landmark and historic, noting that the plant aligns with the government’s commitment to expanding industrial capacity.
