The Board of Directors of the African Development Fund has approved several loans and grants for Uganda and South Sudan to carry out an electricity interconnection project between the two neighboring countries in East Africa.
The project, which was approved on December 13, 2024, in Abidjan, is expected to cost a total of $260 million. This includes $153.66 million in funding from the African Development Fund, which is the concessional lending arm of the African Development Bank Group.
The African Development Fund extended a loan of $119.21 million to Uganda and a grant of $32.50 million to South Sudan. The Nile Basin Initiative, comprising both countries as members, will receive an additional $1.95 million grant from the African Development Fund. The European Union is pledging a grant of 48.93 million euros to South Sudan. The Ugandan government has agreed to match the grant with funding equivalent to $17.44 million.
The goal is to incorporate South Sudan into the East African Power Pool network to resolve the issue of electricity shortages and the reliability and affordability problems related to electricity supply in South Sudan. The project will also offer excess generating capacity in the Ugandan market and enhance electricity trading between Uganda and South Sudan.
The project comprises five key elements. These are: building a 299-km power transmission line connecting Gumbo village near Juba (South Sudan's capital) and Olwiyo in Uganda (149 km in South Sudan and 150 km in Uganda); constructing two new 400/132/33 kV substations, one at Gumbo and the other at Biba on the border with Uganda; and upgrading the Karuma and Olwiyo substations. Other components include: installing distribution networks and 1,000 last-mile connections; project administration and management; capacity building and joint coordination, including a study of the cost of electricity services for South Sudan; and, finally, a resettlement action plan, including the restoration of livelihoods and an action plan for gender equality.
In 2015, Uganda and South Sudan signed a memorandum to establish a 400 kV transmission line connecting Olwiyo and Juba to alleviate South Sudan's electricity shortages. The goal was to deliver a clean, reliable, and affordable electricity supply to South Sudan and boost Uganda's electricity export earnings. The memorandum tasked the Nile Equatorial Lakes Subsidiary Action Programme (NELSAP) with overseeing the project's implementation.
The new connection will allow the exchange of approximately 624 GWh of energy between the two countries annually, resulting in a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and improved access to electricity for 286,710 people in South Sudan.
The project's implementation will lower kilowatt-hour tariffs for end users in South Sudan, in accordance with the findings of a study on the cost of the electricity service. It will also generate at least 50 permanent positions (15 of which will be held by women) and 1,000 temporary positions (300 of which will be held by women) during the project's construction and operational phases.
Bhebhe Themba, Country Manager for South Sudan at the African Development Bank, noted:
The project is crucial for unlocking business opportunities, stimulating local industry and manufacturing. It will generate employment for young people and women, thereby reducing poverty by enhancing resilience and tackling the primary causes of conflict and instability in South Sudan, in line with the Bank's strategic objectives.
I'm ready to help. What text needs to be paraphrased? Syndigate.info ).