The African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved a financial package of $153.66 million for the Uganda-South Sudan transmission line, clearing the way for the start of construction of a project that had been shelved for 10 years.
The amount the AfDB will offer is about 60 per cent of the overall $260 million that the project is estimated to cost. Of the amount the AfDB has agreed to offer, a loan of $119.21 million will be given to Uganda while South Sudan will get a grant of $32.5 million.
The European Union has agreed to provide a grant of €48.93 million to South Sudan, while the Ugandan government has committed to contribute $17.44 million.
The Uganda-South Sudan transmission project consists of construction of a 400kV transmission line, which will run over a distance of 299km. Uganda will account for 150km of this distance, while South Sudan will have the remaining 149km. Construction of the project is expected to start in 2026.
Under the project, two new 400/132/33kV substations will be constructed – one in South Sudan at Gumbo in the outskirts of the capital Juba, and another in Uganda at Bibia in Uganda near the border with South Sudan, and integrating surrounding 33kV distribution network.
The AfDB says the project is meant to integrate South Sudan into the East African Power Pool network to address electricity shortages and problems associated with reliability and affordability of electricity supply in South Sudan.
According to Uganda’s government plans, electricity exports to South Sudan will be in the range of 45MW to 260MW when the transmission network is commissioned. Much of the electricity will come from the just-commissioned Karuma hydropower plant.
South Sudan has agreed to buy the hydroelectricity at an estimated tariff of $9 cents per kWh, which is far cheaper than the cost of $37 cents per kWh from the fossil-fuel generators presently supplying the capital Juba.
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