On March 16, a completion ceremony was held in Juba, the capital of the Republic of South Sudan, for a water purification facility constructed under the Grant Aid “Juba City Water Supply Improvement Project”. The ceremony was attended by President Kiir, Minister of Water Resources, Minister of Presidential Affairs, Minister of Cabinet Affairs, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, and other key ministers from the South Sudanese side, as well as Ambassador Naohiro Tsutsumi of Japan to South Sudan, JICA Director Naoki Ando, and JICA South Sudan Office Director Fuyuki Sagara.
The project began in 2007, before the independence of South Sudan, with a survey for the reconstruction and development of Juba City, and construction began in 2013, immediately after independence, with high expectations from the citizens of Juba. The construction period lasted 10 years due to two conflicts in the country and the evacuation of the country due to the spread of the new type of coronavirus.
In Juba, due to population growth and an aging water pipeline network, the water produced by the existing water treatment plants was reaching only a small percentage of the population. Due to the lack of basic social services, many people have been forced to live on unpurified raw water from the Nile River, which has been hazardous to their health and inconvenient for them, forcing them to spend time and labor fetching water from distant wells. There was also the problem of outbreaks of waterborne diseases caused by poor water quality.
The project has resulted in the construction of a new water purification facility with a capacity of 10,800 cubic meters per day, eight water truck water stations, and 120 public water taps. Residents have expressed their joy and gratitude for having access to clean water at a reasonable price. The number of Juba residents with access to safe water through this project is expected to increase to approximately 400,000, more than 10 times the previous number, and the project is expected to contribute to the improvement of the living environment and public health.
At the ceremony, Mr. Ando emphasized the significance of this project, which includes the supply of clean water essential for human life, building a relationship of trust between citizens and government through this supply, strengthening the capacity of organizations and human resources to continue providing social services, and the importance of peace and stability in South Sudan, which will lead to greater freedom and development. The two sides also discussed the importance of peace and stability in South Sudan, as well as the further freedom and development it will bring. In response, President Kiir said, “This project is a great development cooperation with real effects on people’s lives, and I would like to once again express my sincere gratitude to the Government and people of Japan for delivering this great gift following the Freedom Bridge last year. To ensure that this facility will serve the people for a long time, I direct the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation and all other related agencies to strive to manage, operate, and maintain this facility in a sustainable and effective manner”.
In parallel with this project, JICA has been providing technical cooperation since 2010 with the aim of strengthening the operational capacity of the water supply business. As a result, the project has confirmed positive results such as improvement in the quality of clean water, increase in the number of customers, and improvement in the rate of fee collection. Furthermore, a new technical cooperation project, “Juba City Clean Water Supply Project,” was launched in March 2022 to provide comprehensive support to the South Sudan Urban Water Supply Corporation, the operating body of the water purification facilities, so that it can properly maintain and manage the facilities and operate the water supply business autonomously.
JICA will continue to contribute to solving issues in developing countries through the development of high-quality infrastructure.
© Source JICA
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