Kuwait becomes the first Arab country to invest in South Sudan
Mar 14, 2006 (JUBA) — Kuwait has become the first Arab country to invest in south Sudan, a region roughly the size of Texas ravaged by more than two decades of conflict with the north, the Gulf Daily News reported.
International donors have pledged an estimated $4.5 million in aid for the region over the next three years, but are threatening to withhold development funds pending the resolution of the conflict in Darfur.
But the Arab League, anxious about the prospect of the break-up of a member state when southerners vote in a referendum at the end of a six-year interim period that commenced in July 2005, has been encouraging Arabs to assist.
The 22-member body says response has been negligible so far and only a handful have put money into a special Arab League fund for south Sudan, earmarked for development projects aimed at making “unity attractive” come referendum day.
Egypt has floated the idea of opening a branch of its Alexandria University in Juba, the capital of south Sudan, and carrying out water and electricity projects that have yet to materialise.
But the Kuwaitis, already familiar faces in Juba, have become the first to back up rhetoric with action by announcing the launch of three projects simultaneously in the south’s central Equatoria state of Bahr Al Jebel.
On Saturday, the Kuwaiti ambassador in Khartoum, Munzir Al Issa, accompanied a delegation of Kuwaiti investors to Juba to inaugurate a project to upgrade the town’s Nile river port to the tune of $70m.
They also inaugurated a second project to build a five-star hotel in Juba, expected to be the first in the region, at an estimated cost of $40m, and a $10m fisheries industry.
The residents of Juba came out in force to attend the grand ceremony held to launch the projects and express gratitude to the business delegation headed by Ma’az Al Fihayed, president of Sukait, the joint Kuwaiti-Sudanese company undertaking the investment.
“By carrying out these projects and others under consideration, we are returning the love the people of the south have shown to the people and government of Kuwait,” Al Fihayed said.
Sukait said it expected the port project to be completed in two years and serve a useful purpose connecting villages along the Nile and in the repatriation of millions of people displaced by the war.
It added it would collect 95 per cent of revenues from the project, launched on a Build Operate Transfer (BOT) basis, with the 5pc going to host, Bahr Al Jebel state, which will take full control after 30 years.
Al Fihayed said the hotel would be completed in 18 months. The fishing project, said the company, will be fully operational within 10 months.
(Gulf News Daily)