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Mr. Themba Bhebhe, the Bank Group’s Country Manager for South Sudan, said financing for the project is expected to be approved by November this year.
“We are looking at probably 120 million in that project. The approval of financing is expected to be there in November this year,” Bhebhe told journalists at the sidelines of a signing ceremony of a five-year project to boost agricultural productivity on Friday 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 probably that you will see is the transmission line, electricity transmission line from Uganda to South Sudan, Cuba,” he said.
He explained that this will reduce the tariff from about 42 to about 11 cents in Juba.
“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.
“So what we want to bring that significance down, when we are producing, when that electricity is now about three to five kilowatt per hour, we reduce that tariff from about 42 to about 11 cents or something, almost the average.”
He added that besides importing electricity from Uganda, the project encompasses fuel transportation.
The implementation of the project is anticipated to take about 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 the space of probably two years and so forth.”
Bhebhe revealed that once the finance is approved, the project would 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.
