Legislator demands acquisition of Juba power plant

By Okech Francis

The government must buy off the power plant on the outskirt of Juba to avoid being held hostage over funding, said a legislator on Wednesday.

“A lot of damages are coming and has started already and citizens will lose a lot,” Hon. Gen. Salva Mathok Gengdit, a Member of Parliament in the Transitional National Assembly said in an interview.

Ezra Construction and Development Group which constructed the power plant and the distribution company Juba Electricity Distribution Company (JEDCO) have been holding a tug of war with the government over funding to keep electricity running in the capital Juba.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, Ezra said the Juba power plant “will cease to operate in the next few days.”

Health services and investments which heavily rely on electricity will stand to lose from the actions if Ezra goes through to close down electricity production, Gengdit said.

“It’s affecting the citizens’ lives, even the blood bank, those who have been affected by coronavirus and those relying on electricity to live, all are at stake,” he disclosed.

 Gengdit urged the government to discuss with Ezra and reach settlement, including the option of buying off the electricity provider.

The company blames the government for failing to honor a 2017 agreement that obliges the latter to provide $3 million monthly to facilitate import of equipment and raw materials for the plant.

It said the government, through both the Ministry of Energy and Dams, and Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, is contractually obliged to convert the SSP received by JEDCO into US Dollars to pay Ezra for the electricity it generates but “despite ensuring the collection of electricity tariff which is made in SSP through our joint efforts in JEDCO from customers, payments due to Ezra as per the contract signed in August 2017 have not been made on time despite numerous attempts to address the situation.”

The Ministry of Energy and Dams has failed to make over 85 percent of payments over the last 15 months, with some payments delayed for over 400 days, Ezra said.

The decision to shut down will lead to a huge loss from consumers in money paid for power extension and in tariffs for supply, Gengdit said.

According to him, “the company is shutting down with citizens’ money paid already to them and this is not good.”

“This country has been dealing with problems and if you are an investor, you must be patient with it,” he said.

“The decision for the shut down is a mere slaughtering of the businesses just picking up.”