Kuwait group in $105 mln deal for Sudan river authority

September 3, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — Sudan has sold its River Transport Authority to a Kuwaiti investment group in a $105 million deal that will bring investment to the important Nile river trade route, the finance ministry said on Monday.

The Aref Investment Group spent $73.5 million on a 70 per cent stake in the authority, a ministry spokeswoman said.

Sudan’s government will retain a 20 per cent stake in the new Sudan River Transport Company and the semi-autonomous government of South Sudan will have 10 percent, she added.

The authority controls transport of passengers and freight between north and south Sudan along Africa’s longest river.

“In total it was a $105 million deal, $73.5 million paid by Aref,” said the finance ministry spokeswoman.

She said Aref had promised to rehabilitate ports along the river, cut freight unloading costs and slash the amount of time it took to transport goods across Sudan.

“At the moment, it takes 21 days to carry goods from Kosti in the north to Juba or Malakal in the south. They say they will reduce that journey to seven days in two years’ time.

“The whole deal is part on an ongoing deal to privatise all of Sudan’s transport network — air, rail as well as river.”

The state of the ports and other infrastructure along the Nile has long been a subject of concern for traders and officials, particularly in land-locked southern Sudan, which is struggling to rebuild its economy after a crippling civil war.

Last month South Sudan President Salva Kiir opened a river port at Juba, with a $2 million crane paid for by the Japanese government. But traders told Reuters much more still needed to be done to cuts port fees and build up unloading facilities.

The new company will have seven board members, five appointed by Aref, two by the government.

Aref made 70 per cent of its payment in cash and the rest in kind, the state-run SUNA news agency reported.

(Reuters)