The Governments of the Republic of South Sudan and Uganda, together with the Nile Basin Initiative have received financing from the African Development Fund towards the cost of implementing the South Sudan -Uganda Power Interconnection Project (SUPIP). Additionally, the financing for the SUPIP portion in the Republic of South Sudan includes a grant from the African Development Bank (AfDB) as the administrator of European Union financed projects.
According the project document release by the AfDB, the principal objectives of this project are to integrate South Sudan to the Eastern Africa Power Pool grid and with the specific objective to address the deficit, reliability, and affordability of electricity in South Sudan while providing a market for clean and available excess generation in Uganda.
The project includes the following components:
- Component 1-Transmission lines: Construction of 299 km of 400 kV double circuit transmission lines comprising 149 km from Gumbo in Juba (South Sudan) to Uganda border, and 150km from the South Sudan border to the existing Olio substation in Uganda via the new Bibia substation.
- Component 2-Substations: Construction of a new 400/132/33 kV substation at Gumbo (South Sudan), a new 400/132/33 kV substation at Bibia (Uganda), extension of 400 kV Karuma substation (Uganda) and uprating of Olwiyo substation (Uganda) from 132/33 kV to 400/132/33 kV.
- Component 3-Distribution network and last mile connections: Construction of 100 km of 33 kV lines and 400 km of low-voltage reticulations in Nimule (South Sudan) including 1,000 last-mile connections and extension of 33 kV distribution lines in Juba to the new Gumbo 400/132/33 kV substation.
- Component 4-Project administration and management services, institutional capacity building and joint coordination.
- Component 5-Implementation of Environmental & Social Management Plan (ESMP), resettlement and compensation of project-affected persons, gender action plans, and Civil Society Organization activities.
4.Procurement of goods, works, and the acquisition of consulting services will be in accordance with the African Development Bank’s “Procurement Policy for Bank Group Funded Operations” dated October 2025 and in line with the respective financing agreements. Specific Procurement Notices (SPNs), Request for Proposal (RFP) for consultancy services and Bidding Documents for goods and works contracts are expected to be available by March 2025.
More information on the bidding process may be found on the AfDB announcement.