Donors pledge over US$100m for new road link from Juba to Kenya
Jointly organised by the Ministries of Roads and Bridges of South Sudan and Kenya, some 25 donor organisations attended the meeting in Nairobi last week, January 29 and 30. Franklin Bett, Kenya’s minister for roads, said the new corridor would boost the two countries’ economies and would benefit communities along the road. This corridor has been earmarked as high priority by the East African Community,” he said.
This corridor has been earmarked as high priority by the East African Community.”
However, the pledges fall short of an estimated of 1.3 billion US dollars needed to fund the entire road link.
Kenyan and South Sudanese cabinet ministers, members of the South Sudanese National Assembly, other senior officials from the governments of South Sudan and Kenya, and representatives from various donors attended the conference.
The new road is seen as a chance to integrate South Sudan into East African markets. The Minister for Finance and Economic Planning Kosti Manibe said roads are among South Sudan’s top three priorities. Manibe told donors that his government is putting 25 million US dollars in the pot of the South Sudan section of the project.
The World Bank Country Director for South Sudan Deborah Bird, January 29.
The World Bank Country Director for South Sudan Deborah Bird said 50 million US dollars are available for South Sudan and 100 million US dollars for Kenya adding that more money from regional funds will be available for this project. We are hopeful by March or April another 100 million US dollars will be released for South Sudan,” Bird added.
Meanwhile, the Africa Development Bank, providing financial advices to African countries, pledged US$35m for South Sudan. Gabriel Negatu said ADB priority project is the road from Kampala-Juba-Djibouti but the US$35m pledge for Juba-Eldoret corridor was intended to encourage other donors to support the project.
The ADB Regional Director said the support that South Sudan received during independence has slumped and that the sympathy is now shifting to Somalia.
Facilitated by the World Bank, the conference was attended by leading donor groups, many of whom did not commit to the project. Notable among them was China EXIM Bank, the EU, European Investment Bank and the Arab Development Bank among others.
The benefits of this project are not well explained.”
China Exim Bank officials asked for the Juba-Eldoret corridor document and priorities. The head of delegation said they would report to their headquarters before deciding whether or not to contribute.
The European Union and European Investment Bank questioned the economic viability of the scheme, saying that if the costs were slashed they might reconsider. We are not in a position to make any firm commitment at this stage. The benefits of this project are not well explained,” said Laurent Kibumbi, the Head of EU Infrastructure in Kenya.
Moreover, the bank official cited Contonou Agreement, a framework for the European Union’s engagement with Africa, which South Sudan did not sign up to.
