No single job will be lost at Indeni – Government

Government has assured Indeni Petroleum employees that no single job will be lost at the refinery.

Energy Minister David Mabumba says the decision to look for a strategic partner at the refinery was aimed at recapitalizing and repositioning the facility for an improved operational capacity.

He explained that at full scale, the refinery will generate revenue and additional manpower will be added.

‘’The idea is to improve the capacity, the production levels will go back to its design capacity of 1.1 million metric tonnes. Get additional man power to deal with the improved capacity” he said.

He said prolonged low production levels had resulted in stagnation at the refinery.

“At the moment, the establishment for Indeni is stagnant, simply because our production levels have gone down’’ he explained.

Mr. Mabumba further dismissed assertions of looming retrenchments and job losses adding that no single job will be lost as government will continue providing oversight.

“Instead of retrenchments, you actually create more jobs. We will be moving from 650,000 metric tonnes to 1.1 million metrics tonnes. And this will in turn mean additional man power will be required to deal with that capacity improvement. So we are going to return all the jobs at Indeni and create more” he said.

Meanwhile, government says it will undertake a local investors conference to encourage participation in the recapitalization of Indeni Petroleum.

Mr. Mabumba said the symposium was aimed at ensuring local investors wishing to get involved during the recaptalization process were not left out.

He said preparations for the conference are underway and his Ministry is closely working with the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) to ensure steady participation from the local entrepreneurial base.