- The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) and the European Union are set to inject $120 million into importing power lines.
- He added that the project encompasses fuel transportation as well as importing electricity from Uganda.
The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) and the European Union are set to inject $120 million into importing power lines from Uganda to South Sudan. The Bank Group’s Country Manager for South Sudan, Mr. Themba Bhebhe, said financing for the project is expected to be approved by November of this year.
“We are looking at probably 120 million in that project. The financing approval will to be in November this year,” Bhebhe told journalists on the sidelines of a signing ceremony of a five-year project to boost agricultural productivity on July 27 in Juba.
A 400kV Olwiyo-Juba transmission line will tap power from the Olwiyo substation in northern Uganda, which is already operational at 132kV for distribution to Juba.
Bhebhe said projects funded together with the EU will primarily address the issue of export access and cost.
“I also want to mention, take advantage of it, that the next big project you will probably see is the transmission line, an electricity transmission line from Uganda to South Sudan, Cuba,” he said.
He explained that this would reduce the Juba tariff from about 42 to about 11 cents.
“The average tariff is about 42-kilowatt cents per hour. That is the average in South Sudan. It is about 10 cents. So an average South Sudanese pays ten or four times higher than their counterparts in the region,” he said.
Bhebhe noted, “So what we want to do is bring that significance down. When we are producing electricity, which is now about three to five kilowatts per hour, we reduce that tariff from about 42 to about 11 cents or something, almost the average.”
He added that the project encompasses fuel transportation as well as importing electricity from Uganda. Its implementation is anticipated to take three to five years.
“So we are looking at our projection by the end of the year to have a portfolio commitment of about 300 million in South Sudan within probably two years and so forth.”
Bhebhe revealed that once the finance is approved, the project will commence in the second half of next year. “There is a lot of preparatory work. This will be about a three—to five-year program. So, in the next three to five years, you will see significant improvement in this,” he said.