Sudan plans to electrify 90% of its territory

KAMPALA, Uganda, June 13, 2004 (PANA) — Sudanese energy authorities are optimistic that a plan to electrify 90 percent the country will implemented on schedule after securing two thirds of the vast project`s funds estimated at US$3 billion.

The country`s electricity minister Ali Tamim Fartak told a power generation seminar organised as part of last week`s ministerial meeting of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) in Kampala that only 30% of Africa`s largest country was currently supplied with electricity.

“”Hopefully in the next five years we will be covering 90 percent of Sudan with electricity,” the minister said.

He revealed that Khartoum had secured from abroad 70% of the projected US $3 billion needed to finance the ambitious project to be funded through domestic resources and soft loans from mainly Arab and Gulf countries. India, China and South Korea are the others funding the project.

“The electrification project is part of a 25-year plan drawn up by the government last year. In the Sudan, fortunately, we have the longest river on earth – the Nile,” Tamim told seminar.

While Sudan`s hydro-electric power generation potential from River Nile stands at 14,000 megawatts, only a tenth of this is currently produced.

The minister revealed that four hydroelectric projects will be developed to produce 4,000 MW in the next five years, adding that solar energy will be introduced to cater for remote areas outside the planned grid.

Hydro-electricity accounts for 60% of Sudan`s power supply while thermal plants generate 40% of the electricity.

The ambitious electrification project will become a reality after the government and the rebel Sudan People`s Liberation Army/Movement (SPLA/M) fully implement a truce they reached last month in Naivasha, Kenya to end a civil war that has raged for more than two decades in the country`s south.