South Sudan is planning to buy electricity power from Uganda, one of the country’s southern neighbours.
The government in Juba has just announced its plan to secure USD 130 million for the envisaged project of importing electricity energy from Kampala.
The move is being described as another step being taken by South Sudan which is aimed at expanding the energy coverage to cover the entire area of the country.
According to the South Sudan Representative at the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) Engineer Manyuon Deng, the funding includes a USD 80 million grant from the African Development Bank (AFDB) and an additional USD 50 million which was provided by the European Union (EU).
Engineer Manyuon Deng added that the project will contribute to strengthening the South Sudan’s energy infrastructure and is expected cover the three main regions of the country which are Greater Equatorial Upper Nile and Bahr el Ghazal
This project comes within the framework of the government’s efforts to improve electricity supply and support economic and social development in the young nation which faces significant challenges as far as the energy sector is concerned.
The Percentage of the South Sudan population which has been linked to the national grid is estimated to be at 5.4 percent on average, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources.
A member of the East African Community (EAC), South Sudan is the youngest nation on Earth with a small population of just 8.26 million residents.