Hon. Pal Mai Deng, the Minister for Water Resources and Irrigation for the Republic of South Sudan has called for NBI support in getting long-term solutions to floods in South Sudan. The Hon. minister said floods had affected nine of the ten states of South Sudan, with Unity State (Bentiu) the worst affected. The Hon. minister made the appeal during a courtesy call to his office by the Nile Cooperation for Climate Resilience (NCCR) Flood and Drought Risk Mitigation team from the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI). The delegation was led by NELSAP-CU Regional Coordinator Eng, Dr. Isaac Alukwe, Dr. Thomas Jang Kan, the Head of Water Resources Management of South Sudan/NELTAC Member, and NCCR technical staff from NELSAP-CU and the Eastern Nile Technical Regional Office, ENTRO. The delegation visited the Hon. minister on April 24th, 2023.
The NCCR Flood and Drought Risk mitigation thematic area is being implemented in 9 Nile Basin Countries with the aim of enhancing preparedness and resilience of Nile Basin Countries against flood and drought disasters. The project is identifying areas with frequent high flood risks and then developing Flash Flood Early Warning Systems (FFEWS). In addition, the project will build capacities of flood managers in flood emergency response planning and the use of the FFEWS. It will also identify investment options (both structural and non-structural interventions) to manage flood and drought.
NCCR is a 5-year project financed by the World Bank through Cooperation for International Waters in Africa (CIWA) Trust Fund, and is implemented collaboratively by five agencies - NELSAP, ENTRO, Nile Basin Secretariat, The Lake Victoria Basin Commission (LVBC), and the Nile Basin Discourse (NBD).The meeting with the Hon. minister further discussed an upcoming project with flood mitigation components called the Regional Climate Resilience Project, (RCRP) also financed by the World Bank. It also reviewed progress on the signing of MOU for resource mobilization and implementation of the Nyimur-Limur Multipurpose Water Resources Project located on the Aswa (Achwa) Basin in Eastern Equatoria State of South Sudan. The Nyimur-Limur project comprises of two dams with an irrigation command area of 4,200 ha (1,150 ha in South Sudan and 3,080 ha in Uganda) as well as water supply and flood control components.
NELSAP-CU has previously done identification of four dams in South Sudan that will help control flood and generate approximately 2 GW of hydropower. The four dams, located along the Nile, are Bedden (570MW), Grand Fula (1080MW), Lakki (420MW) and Shukoli (240MW).