Sudan launches major dam to boost agricultural production, investment
By Ulf Laessing
ROSEIRIS, Sudan | Tue Jan 1, 2013 5:47pm EST
(Reuters) - Sudan launched a major dam project on Tuesday to boost power
supply and agricultural irrigation, a plan officials hope will foster
farmland exports and attract more Gulf investment to the African country as
it battles an economic crisis.
Faced with the loss of most of its oil reserves with South Sudan's secession
in 2011, Sudan plans to increase exports of agricultural goods, such as
wheat, fruits, oil seeds and gum arabic. Oil was the primary source of
income for the country's budget as well as dollars needed to fund imports.
A Chinese firm, paid by Gulf donors, heightened and expanded the Roseiris
dam on the Blue Nile near the southeastern border with Ethiopia for an
estimated $441.5 million over four years.
In one of the biggest development projects in the country in recent years,
the project added 10 meters in height and expanded it to 25 kilometers from
13 kilometers in length, helping increase storage capacity to 7.4 billion
cubic meters and allowing more power generation.
Officials said the dam's power supply will now rise by 50 percent to 1,800
megawatts, feeding power to several Sudanese states - a relief for ordinary
people in a country with frequent outages, even in the capital Khartoum.
The dam will also boost power supply at Sudan's second largest dam called
Merowe north of Khartoum, as it benefits from higher Nile water levels,
first engineer Khidir Qassim as-Said told Reuters.
The expanded Roseiris dam will also provide irrigation for 2 million feddans
(acres or hectares) of new farmland in several states which will boost
agricultural production, according to Industry Minister Abdul-Wahab Mohammed
Osman.
An extra 3 million feddan of existing farmland will now get irrigation for
the whole year, not just during the rainy season, he said. A fishery factory
is also planned at the dam.
Firms from Gulf countries such as
<
http://www.reuters.com/places/saudi-arabia> Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have
unveiled plans to boost investment in Sudanese farmland, which is prized for
its fertile soil.
But many projects such as expanding the production of gum arabic, a
stabilizer in fizzy drinks, have been hampered by a lack of rain or
irrigation. Analysts also blame mismanagement and corruption for the failure
of projects.
Gulf donors vowed more support for Sudan during the expanded dam's opening
ceremony in order to develop its agricultural sector and strengthen ties
with Arab oil producers.
"Kuwait will give more support to Sudan," Abdelwahab Ahmed al-Badr of
Kuwait's state development fund, told the crowd.
FIGHTING PERSISTS
Sudanese officials also hope the heightened Roseiris dam will improve
development in Blue Nile state, one of the poorest regions where the army is
fighting rebels complaining of marginalization. The local economy has been
hit hard by the violence which began in September 2011.
"The sons of Blue Nile state will be the first to benefit from the dam,"
President Omar Hassan al-Bashir told the ceremony after he opened the dam's
gates.
Though the dam, near the state capital of Damazin, is far away from the
border region to South Sudan, where fighting is concentrated, authorities
took no chances with security.
Hundreds of soldiers lined the streets from the dam to the airport where the
government had flown in hundreds of diplomats, journalists, officials and
executives to showcase the project.
Military helicopters also circled over the dam during the ceremony.
Authorities relocated 22,000 people to make way for the dam, replacing their
old villages with new settlements, according to the government. (Reporting
by Ulf Laessing, Khartoum newsroom; editing by Gary Crosse)
**************************************************************
Rival Sudans hold summit on Friday, signal concessions
By Ulf Laessing and Carl Odera
KHARTOUM/JUBA | Tue Jan 1, 2013 5:47pm EST
(Reuters) - The leaders of Sudan and South Sudan will meet on Friday to
discuss how to improve border security and resume vital oil flows, both
sides said on Tuesday as the feuding African neighbors signaled possible
concessions.
The countries, which fought one of Africa's longest civil wars ending with a
peace deal in 2005, signaled concessions ahead of the summit.
Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir and South Sudan's Salva Kiir
accepted an invitation from Ethiopia to meet in Addis Ababa, spokesmen for
both governments said.
The African Union, backed by Western powers, had urged holding the meeting
in order to end a stalemate over how to set up a demilitarized buffer zone
along the disputed border after the countries came close to war in April.
Bashir and Kiir agreed in September in Ethiopia to resume oil exports from
the landlocked South through Sudan.
Juba shut down its oil production, a vital source of revenue for both
countries, in January after failing to agree with Sudan on an export fee,
one of several conflicts left over from South Sudan's secession in 2011.
Neither country has yet withdrawn its respective army 10 km (six miles) from
the border to set up a buffer zone, a condition to restart oil flows. Both
accuse each other of supporting rebels on the other's territory.
In a speech on New Year's Eve, Kiir said the new republic he leads was
willing to withdraw its troops from the 1,800-km (1,200-mile) long border.
"To be able to establish the border monitoring mission, we are temporarily
withdrawing our forces from the immediate border areas," Kiir said.
"This will allow for a demilitarized border zone to be operational," he
said, without giving a date for the pullout. "We hope that these
arrangements will make sure that peace and stability is maintained along our
common border."
South Sudan's Information Minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin told Reuters the
withdrawal would have to be coordinated.
"The summit will be held to improve the atmosphere ahead of the next round
of talks," he said. Security officials from both countries are scheduled to
meet in Addis Ababa on January 13.
NO OIL FLOWS YET
Bashir did not mention Kiir's comments at a rally on Tuesday but said Sudan
wanted to implement the September deals, which would include the troop
pullback, and open the border for trade.
"We strive and will continue to strive to improve ties with our neighbor
South Sudan which has signed with us a peace agreement," Bashir told a crowd
in Blue Nile state which borders South Sudan.
"We are ready for good neighborly relations and cooperation and we want to
implement all agreements signed in Addis Ababa," he said.
South Sudan seceded from Sudan under a 2005 peace deal which ended decades
of civil war but both countries have yet to agree on ownership of several
disputed border regions.
South Sudan originally had hoped to resume oil exports by January but has
postponed turning on wells until the buffer zone is in place.
The two rivals are also at odds over Abyei, an area between Sudan and South
Sudan prized for its fertile grazing land.
(Reporting by Ulf Laessing in Roseiris and Carl Odera in Juba; additional
reporting by Khalid Abdelaziz; Editing by Michael Roddy)
Received on Wed Jan 02 2013 - 15:37:45 EST
