Southern Sudan starts registering investors
by Ken Ramani, The East African Standard.
Aug 24, 2005 (Nairobi) — The government of Southern Sudan has started registering foreign businesses and investors in various sectors.
Under the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) signed in Nairobi in January, Southern Sudan will enjoy a six year-interim period by forming a semi-autonomous government.
As a result of the autonomy status, SPLM/A will be free to register businesses and enter deals with investors interested in exploiting opportunities in its area of jurisdiction.
SPLM/A requires that foreign investors and wholesale traders enter partnerships with locals.
Locals will also have to be supported by foreigners with resources to set up distribution networks for their products.
Bread of Life Africa (Bola), in conjunction with Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army, have organised a fact-finding mission for Kenyan investors.
Representatives of at least 20 Kenyan firms will tomorrow leave for Southern Sudan on a fact-finding mission.
The firms will use the opportunity to be pre-qualified to supply various products and services.
The visit was disrupted by the July 30 untimely death of Dr John Garang, the Southern Sudan President and Sudan’s First Vice-President.
The companies that will make the visit include pharmaceuticals, contractors, surveying, road transporters, water drilling, building and bridge construction companies.
Bola Programme Officer Nthiwa Malei said similar visits will be made on a weekly basis as the number of local investors and traders who want to set base in Sudan increases.
He said investors and traders will use the occasion to register with the authorities since they cannot operate without valid papers.
Sudan experienced war for 21 years.
The south under the leadership of the late Garang has fought for equality and fair distribution of vast resources such as oil that Khartoum was exploiting but left nothing to communities in the south.
Highchem, one of the Kenyan companies, says it is ready to supply clinics, hospitals, and NGOs with various products.
It also deals in a wide range of products such as fleas, ticks, flies and cockroaches.
The group is also planning to enter into partnership to produce Roto moulded water storage tanks and PVC piping in Southern Sudan.
Some of the NGOs that fund this activity include Water Aid (UK), Care International, UNDP, Unicef (for schools), and UNHCR (for resettlement of refugees).
Between May 11 and 12, Bola organised an investment conference in Nairobi for Kenyan firms. However, foreign firms sent more representatives than the locals.
Since January, analysts have been warning that unless Kenyans move into South Sudan fast, they will lose out to South African, American, British and Asian companies.
South African firms have a foothold in Sudan and it is a matter of time before they start reaping dividends of peace that Kenya helped bring about.
The international community in April pledged more than $4.8 billion for the reconstruction of Sudan, more than half of which will go to the South.
Strategic investors will be sought to construct roads, houses, hospitals, bridges, and roads.