A scarcity of drinking water is reported in South Sudan’s capital Juba due to unfavourable price of dollar against the South Sudanese currency at the market.
In interviews carried out by Radio Tamazuj, several citizens said they were facing difficulties getting drinking water in Juba suburbs. Meanwhile, manufacturers of bottled water said they need dollars in order to purchase raw materials abroad for production.
Several factories have reportedly halted or reduced production due to a scarcity of hard currency to run their businesses.
For his part, Domach Peter, Director of Quality Control at the National Authority of Standards and Meteorology admitted that there is shortage of drinking water in some of the residential areas in Juba.
“We have received complaints from citizens in Gudele area about the lack of drinking water and higher prices of bottled water in shops. They claimed that the price has been increased from 1 SSP to 2 SSP,” he explained.
However, he said there is no clear justification for increasing the water prices. He accused the traders of exploiting the crisis facing the country.
Domach called on the owners of water factories not to increase the prices. Peter disclosed about five water factories and ice companies have recently been shut down for allegedly not complying with the standards.
“Those ice factories do not observe good hygiene, so we said this thing could affect the people. We also shut down Africana Factory because it doesn’t comply with the standards. We also warned JIT Company so that can comply with the standards,” he explained.
William Akol, Finance Secretary at the Chamber of Commerce in Juba, attributed the problem to lack of monitoring in the market. He claimed that the chamber had given dollars to water factories to import the production materials. “So there is no need to increase the prices of drinking water,” he said.
Related:
South Sudan water bottling companies face shutdown over dollar shortage (24 April)