Government pledges to extend clean water services to rural areas

The national ministry of water resources and irrigation in coordination with South Sudan Urban Water Corporation has set priority on extending access to clean water to rural parts of the country.

 “The government has acknowledged that there is no life without water, as ministry of water resources and irrigation and as South Sudan urban water corporation we will lead the government in making sure that we develop, manage and use our water resources sustainably,” said Pal Mai Deng, the national minister for water resources and Irrigation during his visit on Thursday to urban water corporation office in Juba

 He said that the focus is on improving hygiene and sanitation in both urban and rural areas.

However, Mai called for more funding and capacity building to enable the urban water corporation to accomplish this critical task.

Michael Ladu Thomas Allah-Jabu, the mayor for Juba City Council, said his administration will work with urban water corporation to extend water network to the residential areas.

 “As Juba City Council, we have been working together with South Sudan urban water corporation on the issue of challenges faced while extending water pipes, we are going to sustain and ease work for you to do the job,” said Allah-Jabu.  

Yar Paul Kuol, managing director for South Sudan urban water corporation, said they need enough funds to help provide services to the entire population.

He was referring to the water project being constructed with support from the Japan International Corporation Agency (JICA).

The project started three years ago is nearing completion.

 “We launched this project for the last three years but we have not had a tangible infrastructure put in place, and this ground breaking is the start of providing results of providing water to the citizens,” said Kuol.

“We want to solicit more funds because the gap is too huge, we are only supplying less than 20 or 30 percent of the whole population,” she added.