The Sudanese Minister of Energy and Oil denied the existence of any responsibility on his ministry’s part for the Turkish barge supplying electricity to the Red Sea State’s work stoppage, and said that it was the responsibility of the Ministry of Finance.
AlTaghyeer – Khartoum: Ala’a Musa
The Sudanese Minister of Energy and Oil, Jadein Ali Obaid, held the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning accountable for the power outage in the Red Sea State for not paying debts imposed on the Turkish barge by the Sudanese government.
The minister stressed that his ministry was not responsible for stopping the barge.
Jaden said in an interview with AlTaghyeer –to be published later– that the Turkish power-ship is currently in the Red Sea and has not left the port yet.
“If the Ministry of Finance pays the debt owed to the Sudanese government, then only will the barge provide the state with electricity again,” Jadein said.
“You can contact the Minister of Finance and find out from him the reasons for not paying the debt of the Turkish barge,” he added.
Jaden called on the Ministry of Finance to clear these debts so that electricity can return to the city.
The Turkish barge, which supplies the city of Port Sudan with electricity, stopped working completely on Thursday, due to the fuel running out.
The Red Sea Electricity Distribution Department then announced daily cuts within 11 hours due to the barge going out of service because of the debts.
The scheduled cuts were reported to will be 6 hours during the day and 5 hours for the evening period.
The Turkish barge’s management earlier sent a letter to the governor of the Red Sea and the Ministry of Energy regarding the importance of payments.
The management noted that it had repeatedly received promises from the Electricity Company, the Minister of Energy, and the Governor of the Red Sea, to pay off debts since August of last year, but failed to receive any promised amounts.
Minister Jadein also revealed that Ethiopia has agreed to extend Sudan with “1,000” megawatts of electricity in the next phase.
Regarding the recent return of the long and frequent power outages, the minister attributed the return to the lack of capabilities, fuel, and spare parts.
He expects stability in the electric current in the coming months, when the winter season begins, and electrical consumption decreases.
