The Egyptian Ministry of Irrigation and Water Resources said Saturday Egypt would co-operate with South Sudan in the construction of Wau hydroelectric dam on one of the tributaries of the White Nile.
It added that it had signed a protocol on technical co-operation with the government of South Sudan in the field of water resources.
The protocol, it said, includes conducting feasibility studies on the construction of Wau dam, 9 kilometers away from the northwestern South Sudanese city of Wau, on the bank of the Jur River.
The dam will produce 10.40 megawatts of power and provide 500,000 South Sudanese citizens with water, the ministry said in a statement.
It added that the dam would help irrigate between 30,000 and 40,000 feddans of farmland in South Sudan.
Minister of Irrigation and Water Resources Mohamed Abdel A’ti had just wrapped up a visit to the South Sudanese capital, Juba.
During his visit, the Egyptian minister met a host of South Sudanese officials, including President Salva Kiir.
The Ministry of Irrigation and Water Resources said in its statement that Egypt would continue to offer support to fellow African states by implementing a series of projects in these countries that aim to serve their citizens and bring about stability.
This will be achieved, it added, by solving drinking water problems and protecting residential communities from the dangers of recurrent floods.
It referred to ongoing co-operation between Egypt and Tanzania on the construction of the Rufiji River dam.
The ministry noted that it had prepared technical and economic studies for the Wau dam project, enlisting expertise from the National Centre for Water Research in Cairo.
The experts of the centre, it said, had carried out the hydrological and hydraulic studies of the project, along with surveying and contouring studies on the proposed location of the dam and its reservoir.
It added that it also signed a contract with the Egyptian Ministry of Electricity to prepare the necessary designs for the electricity station of the dam, along with the economic feasibility studies of the station.
The Ministry of Irrigation added that it had already finalised all technical and economic studies on the project and handed them over to the Sudanese side during a major workshop in Wau City in February 2015.
It noted that Egypt had contributed to the construction of dams in fellow African states, including in Uganda and Sudan.
