Chinese firm boosts technical skills in South Sudan
Xinhua, JUBA, South Sudan;
Nov 5, 2019 (SSNN) — South Sudanese and nationals of some other east African countries working in Chinese power firm, PowerChina, on the Juba power distribution project, have benefited from technical skills transfer from their Chinese counterparts.
South Sudanese officials and Chinese representatives after the commencement ceremony on April 16 (Photo credit: powerchina.cn)
Wang Cun, executive director of PowerChina branch in South Sudan, revealed that the project supported by the African Development Bank (AfDB) since 2016 to rehabilitate the power distribution and expansion in Juba has greatly transformed hundreds of local employees.
“We employed more than 400 local staff as laborers, technicians, electricians and also we recruited some technicians, electricians, operators for heavy machines from Uganda and Kenya. So now we have more than 48 regional staff and almost 500 local staff,” Wang told Xinhua in an interview in Juba on Tuesday.
PowerChina started erecting poles and replacing vandalized power lines in Juba in April 2018, and most of the work is nearing completion after the company recently finished the erection of medium voltage and low voltage poles that will supply 100 megawatts of power.
He disclosed that they have helped boost investor confidence in South Sudan, following the start of civil war in December 2013 which ruined the country’s economy, hence forcing massive capital flight amid hyperinflation.
“We were here since 2013, and we have made a great contribution to the economic development of this country. We set up confidence for overseas investors to come,” he said.
He revealed that initially they planned to bring in almost 600 Chinese electricians to work on the project but later on abandoned the plan as they instead trusted the local South Sudanese and technicians from the region whom they trained to take charge of the work.
He expressed optimism and confidence that the knowledge transferred to the local staff will help maintain and operate the power distribution project when the Chinese engineers hand it over.
Juba will have an upgraded power distribution system with 2,250 lighting points along the main roads in the capital and lamps will be LED ones.
The project comprises of five different lots including rehabilitation of diesel plant substation, rehabilitation and expansion of medium voltage network, low voltage network, and rehabilitation and expansion of street lighting and improvement of customer care.
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