Milly Glass Works identifies new location in Ethiopia as it firms up relocating

Milly Glass Works, pioneer glass manufacturers based in Mombasa County has acquired land in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia where it plans to relocate its operations to.

In an interview with The Standard, Milly Glass Works Director, Mr Mohamed Rashid said that unfavourable working conditions leading to the proliferation of cheap glass imports have made them come up with a resolution to close shop locally and head to Ethiopia.

‘‘We are looking at Ethiopia and have already identified land at Debreberhan, 160 kilometres from the Capital Addis Ababa where we plan to put up our new glass manufacturing plant,'' Rashid said.

Rashid at the sametime cited high production costs and lack of government sincerity in protecting local manufacturers as the reason for them to look elsewhere.

The said that the EAC and COMESA agreements have opened doors for cheap products from member states forcing it to review its investment decision.

''Egypt is shipping in 50 containers into the country through the Port of Mombasa laden with glass enjoying full Comesa incentitives at the detriment of local manufacturers who are heavily taxed at the sametime,'' he said.

Apart from Milly Glass Works, other Kenyan firms that have already closed shop locally include Sameer Africa, Cadbury and Eveready East Africa are some of manufacturers that have closed down operations in Kenya in recent years.

''We have pondered over this decision for a very long time. Despite our sworn patriotism, there is very little that the government is doing to salvage local manufacturers from many unfavourable business conditions,'' he said.

He said that Milly Glass Works which directly employs 500 Kenyans used to export 50 per cent of its glass manufactured products

He said that earlier plans to invest sh 600 million its local operations by 2019 have been put in hold.

He urged to the government to take strong steps to protect and support the local industries.

He chided the government for taking long to resolve emerging trade imbalances and disputes with neighbouring Tanzania as Kenyan manufacturers lose out.