S. Sudan starts public consultation on Nile waters, says no plans for resumption of Jonglei Canal

JUBA – South Sudan presidency said Sunday that the world’s youngest country has no any plan for the digging of Jonglei Canal and that its intention for dredging of Nam river and other Nile tributaries have been taken out of context.

Speaking during the launch of the public consultation and awareness on Sudd Wetland and the White Nile water resources development and management initiative at Freedom Hall in Juba this afternoon, presidential affairs minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin said there was no mention for resumption of Jonglei Canal by the government.

“Some people started talking that the government is talking about digging of Jonglei and that is not true fellow citizens, there was no mention of anything about Jonglei Canal being dug,” Benjamin said.

The Jonglei Canal scheme was first studied by Sudan and Egypt in 1946 and plans were developed between 1954 and 1959.

The project aimed to divert water from the vast Sudd wetlands in what was then Southern Sudan so as to deliver more water downstream to Sudan and Egypt for agricultural use.

Construction work on the canal began in 1978, but the outbreak of political instability in Sudan had held up work for many years.

By 1984 when the SPLA brought the works to a halt, 240 kilometers of the canal of a total of 360 kilometers had been excavated.

“The government never talked about Jonglei Canal because we know, we in 1983 we closed down (digging of) Jonglei (Canal) if you go now, how many kilometers were dug, over 200 of Jonglei Canal has already been dug,” Benjamin said.

The senior government official said his government cannot resume the same project it opposed in 1984.

“There is only one machine in the whole world that can dig Jonglei Canal, one machine, no other machine can dredge and that machine is now stuck somewhere,” Marial said.

“That machine is completely stuck there from 1983 up to now and if you think that government has dreamt of digging Jonglei Canal, they will need that machine to be airlifted or to bring people from Pakistan,” he said.

However, on 28 February 2022, Vice President for Infrastructures called for the resumption of digging of the Jonglei Canal to prevent flood disasters in Jonglei and Unity states.

Deng said to avoid displacement caused by flooding, waterways should be opened by resuming the digging of the Jonglei Canal, something he said will help speed up the flow of the Nile water to Egypt.