Egyptian government has set aside US$26.6m to help South Sudan in building a hydro electricity power generation dams. The first initiative towards this will be the funding of Wau dam at the cost of US$2b.
The dam will be located in river Jur in Bahr el-Ghazel state in the capital city of Wau and the first among many to be built in the future.
This is according to the Egyptian minister for water resources and irrigation Hossam Moghazy who said his government will assist the Sudanese one in the areas of agriculture, clean water supply, education and electricity in a move to strengthen their cooperation. He has said that Egypt had conducted their feasibility studies on the project,
The Wau dam will provide drinking water to 500,000 people in Wau and irrigation water enough to grow 30,000 feddans. The new dam construction project will also help in regular navigation of the river throughout the year. Egypt has disagreed with Ethiopia at several instances of construction of the Grand Ethiopia Renaissance Dam.
South Sudanese minister of Dams, Electricity and irrigation Jemma Nunu Kumba welcomed the move saying that it is a good source of water and electricity to the South Sudan people.
River Jur flows into the White Nile.Egypt, Ethiopia and South Sudan share the water from river Nile which is guided by the 1929 and 1959 Nile River agreement.
