Yemisi Izuora
In keeping with its vision to ‘Light up Africa’, Sahara Power Group (SPG) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the South Sudanese Ministry of Energy and Dams to develop the country’s power sector in the generation, transmission and distribution spaces.
The MoU would enable Sahara Power, one of Africa’s largest vertically integrated utilities companies expand the remit of its East African operations as well as develop the infrastructure necessary to grow the power sector and engender capacity building for economic transformation.
Group Managing Director, Kola Adesina said “We consider this to be another landmark and major milestone in our quest to facilitate fast paced development in Africa through seamless power supply. We are already working with the Republic of South Sudan (RSS) to develop a dedicated crude oil processing plant to guarantee steady and adequate supplies to the power plants as and when needed. We believe this sort of end-to-end approach is necessary to make electricity a readily available resource to the people of South Sudan.”
The RSS and SPG would also collaborate to develop transmission backbone infrastructure and the establishment of the grid code. There will be further collaboration between the two parties on the Environmental Impact Study, Load Evacuation Study and overall project development.
SPG aims to achieve financial close on the proposed transaction in 2019.
SPG is one of the largest privately run power conglomerates in Sub-Saharan Africa with interests in Egbin Power Plant, Ikeja Electric and First Independent Power Ltd. The organization is also working assiduously to launch a scheme to generate power into the sub-region through the West Africa Power Pool.
Adesina concluded “We have high hopes for this partnership with the Ministry of Energy and Dams and anticipate the commencement of the project in 2019. Developing the power sector brings the government closer to its vision for transforming the socio-economic landscape for the people of South Sudan. We are honoured to have been chosen as a strategic partner.”