The electricity power plant in Lakes State’s Rumbek town has delayed the launch of its operations due to a lack of enough transformers and electricity poles for the expansion of the distribution network in the town.
Engineer Makur Marek Anyuon, the area manager of the South Sudan Electricity Corporation in Lakes State, told Radio Tamazuj Friday that the lack of transformers and poles has made it difficult to expand the electricity network.
“Rumbek Power Plant is being rehabilitated and we are boosting the electricity network which is under construction and we have two engines ready now. The two engines have a big capacity of 1.5 megawatts each which adds up to 3 megawatts,” he said. “To guarantee the safety of the two engines, you must make sure that many people have been connected. The current area of electricity distribution is small because of the small number of poles and transformers. However, we have started metering which is being done by Trinity Company a number of customers have been connected.”
According to Marek, if the number of customers connected to the grid is low, operating the generators for 24 hours or many hours can damage the engines.
“The team of Egyptian engineers will come and testing will take place and the few people who have been connected will be supplied with power as the network is expanded. The expansion of the network is very important to guarantee the safety of the engines,” he stated.
Asked about the cost of the project, Eng. Marek said he was not aware of it.
“The Egyptian Canal Company came to rehabilitate the Rumbek electricity network and they know the cost of the rehabilitation works and construction they carried out and I don’t know anything about it,” he added.
The engineer also said the power tariffs are yet to be determined.
A Rumbek resident, Ayuol Stephen Mawat, thanked the government for operationalizing the power plant and appreciated Governor Rin Tueny Mabor for ensuring peace and stability.
“We have now gotten electricity in Rumbek and that is a sign of development because electricity comes with many benefits,” he said.
For his part, Dominic Dumic Yuol, the Rumbek Central County procurement officer, said electricity is important and a sign of service delivery.
“Power also generates income through tariffs and consumers will pay taxes which will be used for other developmental activities in the state,” Dumic asserted.