The Uganda-South Sudan electricity sharing agreement is set to receive over 300 million- US-dollar funding from international development partners to fund the project.
South Sudan has the world’s lowest electricity access rate – with only 7 percent of its 13 million population having access to electricity power, according to global data and business intelligence platform, Statista.
The power transmission agreement is expected to boost South Sudan’s electrification, create development and employment opportunities in the country.
Dr. Isaac Arikwe, the Program Coordinator of Nile Equatorial Lakes Subsidiary Action said South Sudan will receive about 100 million US dollars from the European Union, 59 million US dollars from the African Development Bank, and 148 US dollars will be given as a loan to Uganda by the AfDB.
“South Sudan is going to be given a grant. One portion of the grant will come from the European Union which is going to provide a grant of about 100 million, then the AfDB will give a grant of about $59 million,” Arikwe said.
Dr. Arikwe underscored that South Sudan will have to account for the deficit of about 25 million US dollars as a sign of ownership of the mega power sharing project between the two countries.
Arikwe said the project will boost South Sudan’s economic development and industrialization which will open job and business opportunities to the nationals.
“Electricity access in South Sudan is still at a very low level, this transmission line connecting the two countries will help improve electrification in both urban and the rural areas.”
“This will contribute, of course, to economic, socio-economic development including industrialization opening up job opportunities, business opportunities for the communities in South Sudan and even the revenue for South Sudan itself.”
In May 2024, the Ugandan government negotiated with a Chinese company a 180- million US dollars deal to build a hydro power transmission line to Juba.
Many businesses and households in South Sudan depend on diesel-powered generators to operate, and the main electricity supplier Juba Electricity Distribution Company (JEDCO) – hardly covers all residential areas of the capital.
The South Sudan government is scrambling between options of importing hydroelectricity from the region and building dams in a bid to find solutions to its energy problems.
In September 2023, South Sudan activated an agreement with Russia for the construction of a hydropower plant in the country.
The cooperation agreement reportedly signed in 2018, was revisited in a meeting in Moscow, a day after President Kiir met his counterpart, Vladimir Putin.
It came on the heels of uncertainties over the position of downstream countries like Egypt and Sudan, who have conflicted with Ethiopia over a newly built mega-dam.
South Sudan also signed an agreement in 2022 with Ethiopia to import 100 megawatts of hydroelectricity power for three years. The deal is yet to be implemented.
