Saudi Arabia to provide 1.7 billion dollars for Sudan’s dam projects
November 5, 2015 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese government disclosed that the Saudi Arabia has committed to invest 1.7 Billion U.S dollars for the constructions of three dams in an agreement inked two days ago.
The Sudanese minister of finance Badr al-Din Mahmoud, Thursday revealed that the construction of the three dams which will be achieved in five years will cost 1.25 Billion U.S dollars. He added that Riyadh pay another half a billion dollar for the other water and electricity projects.
Mahmoud told Ashorooq TV upon his return from Riyadh that a committee chaired by a senior Saudi official and including the Saudi Fund for Development and the related ministries is tasked with the follow-up of the implementation of the four agreements with the Sudanese government.
Following a meeting between President Bashir and King Salman on Tuesday, the two governments signed four framework agreements including one on building a thermal power station to produce 1000 Megawatts in Sudan’s Red Sea state.
The second agreement pertains to the provision of water and thirst removal in Sudan’s rural areas according to the 2015-2020 plan besides an agreement for funding Kajbar, Dal and Al-Shiraik water dams.
The three agreements were signed by Sudan’s minister of finance and economic planning Badr al-Din Mahomud and the Saudi minister of finance Ibrahim bin Abdulaziz Al-Assaf.
Also, a fourth agreement on investment in upper Atbara agricultural project was signed by the Saudi minister of agriculture Abdulrahman bin Abdul Mohsen Al-Fadhli and Sudan’s minister of electricity and water resources Muataz Musa.
Dams’ projects are widely resisted by local residents in the northern and River Nile states. Four people were in killed by the police in demonstrations against the construction of the Kagabar dam in 2007.
A group hostile to the construction of a new dam in Alsheraik area in a statement issued on Thursday denounced the project saying they were not consulted by the government.
The Union of Alsheraik People further vowed to resist the implementation of the project, adding that it is economically unproductive. They claimed that the real purpose of the operation is to plunder the mineral wealth of the area.
Sudanese-Saudi relations have witnessed a thaw in recent months after years of tensions over Khartoum’s close ties with Tehran that saw Iranian warships dock several times in Port Sudan.
Last March, Sudan joined the Saudi-led military coalition against Houthi rebels who are accused by Riyadh of being a proxy to Iran in the region.
(ST)