Low power supply hurts carpenters, cooperative says

Work by members of ADARWA, a carpenters’ cooperative of Gasabo district is being hindered by the low supply off electricity, the cooperative’s top advisor said on Tuesday. According to Hannington Musinguzi, the 1st Advisor to ADARWA the carpenters under this union use heavy machines, which require enough and constant power supply to run these machines and sustain their work. “While we have machines of low quality, the power supply we have is also not enough. We are calling upon the government to address our concern,” he said during a visit by the Minister of Trade and Industry, François Kanimba, to the union. Kanimba assured the carpenters full government support, saying that their work is in line with the government policy to develop Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). The Minister was impressed by the union’s organised way of working and urged other carpenters in the country to learn from ADARWA. “Through Business Development Centres (BDC), other woodworkers across the country should be coming here for training,” he said ADARWA has a training facility and a one year programme of training woodworkers in conjunction with KALKA and Partners. “With these associations coming together, this will reduce the wood materials the country imports,” Kanimba said. The cooperative’s officials also expressed concern over taxes imposed on imported timber from DRC. Kanimba assured them that government will work on scrapping the tax. ADARWA, which has 150 members, was incorporated in 1988. It became an association in 1998 and early last year it transformed into a Cooperative. Ends

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Low power supply hurts carpenters, cooperative says