S. Sudan to utilise Nile River for development projects
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June 24, 2013 (JUBA) - South Sudan says it will use the Nile river’s
water for development projects, stressing its need to produce green
hydroelectricity to reduce reliance on generators.
JPEG - 71.4 kb
Minister of water resources and irrigation, Paul Mayom Akec (ST)
Paul Mayom Akec, the country’s minister of irrigation and water
resources, said the country’s generators were environmental hazards as
they "emit polluted gas into the air, which is not only dangerous to
human health but cause environmental hazard".
The minister said that agricultural demand for water is also increasing.
"Hydro power is the most advanced and economically viable resource of
renewable energy for South Sudan", he said, further disclosing the
country’s plan to build a dam on the White Nile river.
Speaking to Sudan Tribune in an exclusive interview on Monday, Akec
said the government hopes to finance the dam project through foreign
investment.
The dam, according to Akec, will be built in the Fulla-Nimule area of
South Sudan’s Eastern Equatoria state and will help create jobs for
the local population.
The power generated from the dam, he said, will equally be available
to the local people, with additional water to be used for irrigation.
The idea, the minister told Sudan Tribune, has been embraced by
inhabitants in the area.
Akec, however, stated that the project will not affect the share of
the Nile’s water received by Sudan and Egypt, the two downstream
countries.
Members of the Nile Basin Initiative recently agreed at a conference
held in South Sudan’s capital Juba to work towards the “optimal use of
the Nile Water Resources for development projects”.
“It is the right of any country which depends on the Nile’s Water to
use it for development projects provided that it does not affect the
rights of other users", he said, adding that efforts were underway to
reduce poverty and sustainable socio-economic development of the
users.
The minister, who currently chairs the Nile Council of Ministers
(Nile-COM) further noted that his country “sees no negative impact” by
the construction of the controversial Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam
(GERD) on the Blue Nile, only 30kms from the border with Sudan.
Sudan has accepted the findings of an international panel of experts
and so has Egypt but only after senior politicians had encouraged the
government to take a hostile stance to the dam project.
Addis Ababa has, however, argued that the dam will not effect the flow
of the Blue Nile and will benefit neighbouring countries through
exported electricity.
“Ethiopia is a member state of the Nile Basin Initiative. It was one
of the members which accepted and seriously stressed on the need to
respect the right of the other member states which depend or require
the use of Nile Water provided that the usage does not affect the
other members. We all agreed to an equitable and reasonable share of
water resources”, he said.
Last week, South Sudan was the host of this year’s Nile-COM
conference; an annual event held on a rotational basis among Nile
Basin Initiative countries.
The conference, Akec said, underlined the importance of cooperation as
“equal member states” with equal right to the use of Nile’s water
resources for sustainable socioeconomic development. He however said
no discussions were made on claims that make other member states feel
they have the ultimate right to decide on a share the other member
states should get from water.
“There was no resolution which gives another member a veto right to a
certain share of water resources. There were only six resolutions from
the conference. One of the first resolutions was the cooperation
between the member states to achieve the shared vision of sustainable
socioeconomic development through the equitable utilisation of, and
benefit from, the common Nile Basin water resources", the minister
told Sudan Tribune.
Other issues deliberated upon, he further stressed, were the
institutional strength of the Nile Basin Initiative as a strong
regional institution offering its member states a platform for
dialogue, leadership and technical capacity for basin knowledge and
planning, and leadership and technical capacity for the identification
and preparation for cooperative water resources management and
development.
(ST)
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