By Chol D. Johnson
The Minister of Energy and Dams, Agok Makur Kur, urged the Trinity Energy Company to complete the electricity connection and supply within four months.
Speaking on Thursday during a visit to the Nesitu Solar PV Power Plant in Juba, Makur urged the Trinity Energy Company to complete the Solar PV power supply within four months to enable citizens to access enough power.
“I urged El Sewedy and Trinity Energy company, we as Ministry need Solar power supply to reach the residents in Juba” Makur urged.
Makur said that the world is currently focusing on green energy power supply, which means that the Nesitu power station is part of the green energy sector.
He said that the ministry has long- and short-term plans for electricity to reach all areas in South Sudan.
Makur stated that the short-term plan he mentioned earlier during his appointment to office was to complete the supply of power to all areas in Juba.
“In My short-term plan, JEDO and Trinity will play the big roles in supplying the whole Juba with electricity” he said.
He assured the public that El Sewedy and Trinity promised the ministry to complete the power operation within four months.
Makur underscored that solar power will play a critical role, including reducing electricity payment costs, since hydroelectricity has a higher cost than solar power.
“Hydropower is expensive but the cost of solar energy is lower” he underscored.
He mentioned that the power will reach areas such as Jebel Dinka and Guri, which have not had power supply.
“I directed the undersecretary and technical directors to implement and supervises the four months promised by the El Sewedy and Trinity to complete the supply of the power to Juba” Makur directed.
Makur expressed that, as promised earlier by his ministry, the long-term plan is to cover all the ten states of South Sudan with electricity as the foundation of development in the country.
“Electricity is the foundation of development in any country” he expressed.
Macham Macham Angui, the Undersecretary in the Ministry of Energy, said that El Sewedy has already finished handing over the power station to Trinity and the ministry so that it can start operations.
“I said it early; there is certain issues which has to be solved between the Trinity and a Sewedy. and I’m sure that they are going to be to sort out within two to three weeks time” Macham said.
Macham said that the minister has ordered him to implement the power station issue, open it, and give the report within this period of time.
Philip Waden Augustino, the Trinity project manager, stated that the Nesitu Solar Power project has actually been completed since 2022.
Waden expressed that the intention was not only to end the project in Juba but to reach the other ten states.
“Our main vision was actually to ensure that this kind of project also goes to the states” he expressed.
“We want to work with the government so that we can take the burden from the government, and ensure that this kind of projects are implemented to the standard and to the efficiency that actually will help our people” he added.
The Nesitu Solar power plant was established in early 2022 and has been waiting for support from the government to give the company the go-ahead.