By Philip Buda Ladu
South Sudan is set to receive a significant boost to its national power grid after securing a $130 million grant to import electricity from neighboring Uganda.
The announcement was made by Engineer Manyuon Deng, South Sudan’s representative to the Nile Basin Initiative, during a television interview with the state-owned broadcaster, SSBC, on Monday.
The substantial funding, channeled through the Nile Basin Initiative, is earmarked to bring electricity to all corners of South Sudan, encompassing the regions of Equatoria, Upper Nile, and Bahr el Ghazal.
According to Engineer Deng, $80 million of the grant will be provided by the African Development Bank, with the remaining $50 million coming from the European Union.
Engineer Deng further revealed that the World Bank has pledged to finance the distribution infrastructure once the power supply reaches South Sudan.
Ministry of Information and Telecommunication stated in a statement that the government is currently in the process of finalizing the grant agreement, with the project slated to officially commence in early 2026.
Addressing questions regarding the choice of this project over the long-discussed Fulla project, Engineer Deng clarified that the Fulla project would require an estimated $1.5 billion and approximately eight years to become operational, making the Ugandan import a more immediate and feasible solution for the country’s pressing energy needs.
In February 2025, the African Development Bank Group (AFDB) Country manager for South Sudan, Mr. Themba Bhebhe announced in Juba the last stage to start a huge power plant worth $200 million in South Sudan.
He expected the project to begin at the end of 2025, claiming that Uganda’s major electricity project will lower the country’s power prices per kilowatt to 11 or 12 cents per hour.
Bhebhe stated that the AfDB would sign a finance deal with the government and the EU, as well as officially launch the project, adding that the project will be implemented directly through the electricity utility business.
The AfDB country manager underlined that South Sudan is experiencing three-dimensional power challenges, including supply, inadequate generation, distribution, and cost, with research estimating a cost per kilowatt of 42.
“So, if you look at the region now, it costs about an average from what I understand, about 10 to 12 cents per kilowatt hour. Which means the South Sudanese pays four times higher than their counterpart in the region,” Bhebhe earlier highlighted.
In 2022, the Undersecretary in the Ministry of Energy and Dams revealed that South Sudan was ranked the least Country in Africa and the world in electricity supply with the rate of one per cent (1%) of the total population having access to electricity.
Undersecretary, Tom Remis disclosed the miserable country electricity low connectivity during the 2022 Gas and Power Conference in Juba which deliberated on the various challenges that impede the availability of power and how these challenges could be addressed amicably. He suggested the development of more power plants to mitigate the challenge.