Fact Sheet South Sudan

NABC Fact Sheet Trade Mission South Sudan 9-13 October 2011 June2011

FACT SHEET SOUTH SUDAN Netherlands-African Business Council

www.nabc.nl

June 2011

This factsheet has been constructed by for the outgoing trade mission to South Sudan in October

2011. The trade mission is initiated by the Netherlands Embassy in Khartoum and aims to promote

the business opportunities in the newly established country and strengthen trade relations between

both countries. The factsheet gives an overview of the country statistics, business climate, promising

sectors and relevant contact information.

NOTE: as South Sudan is a new country and market information in the region is in general scarce – the

fact sheet is not extensive. The majority of information is derived from local & regional newspapers,

research from multilateral organizations and donors and the NABC network.

http://www.nabc.nl/


CONTENT Quick Facts .............................................................................................................................................. 2

General Overview .................................................................................................................................... 3

Promising sectors .................................................................................................................................... 4

Infrastructure ...................................................................................................................................... 4

Energy .................................................................................................................................................. 5

Agriculture ........................................................................................................................................... 7

Water ................................................................................................................................................... 8

Relevant contacts .................................................................................................................................. 10

Road Juba – Uganda border


Quick Facts

Population 8,26 million (Sudan census 2008)

Area 644,329 sq. km

Population density 13 per sq. km

Location Bordered by Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo,

Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Sudan

Livelihood Crop farming and animal husbandry are the main source of livelihood

for 78% of households

Major cash crops Sorghum, maize, rice, sunflower, cotton, sesame, cassava, beans and

peanuts

Cattle 11,735,00 heads of cattle (2009)

Per capita consumption 100 SDG per person per month

Registered business 7,333 formal registered business (2010)

Source: South Sudan Centre for Census, Statistics & Evaluation (SSCCSE)

General Overview

People - South Sudan is home to some 65 ethnic groups whose territories span the entire region (UN OCHA 2006). Seventy-eight percent of families rely on small-scale farming or animal husbandry as their primary source of livelihood (SSCCSE 2010a). Sudan as a whole has the world’s largest number of pastoralists, with a population of seven million.

Conflict - Sudan has suffered through two civil wars since independence in 1956. The second North-South civil war lasted from 1983 to 2005 and was the longest running civil conflict of its time. It killed an estimated 2.5 million people and left 4.5 million displaced. The 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) brought the 22-year civil war to an end, yet conflict between the national government and rebel groups persists in parts of Northern Sudan. South Sudan too has experienced high levels of localized conflict in recent years. In 2009, approximately 2,500 people were killed and 350,000 displaced by conflict in the South, exceeding the death toll in Darfur for that year (Crockett 2010). The high levels of violence subsided in 2010, but rebellions by high-level military officers have since added another layer of complexity to the situation.

Government - The CPA established the Government of South Sudan (GoSS) in 2005. The GoSS is the highest level of authority in South Sudan and sits above the state-level governments in the federal hierarchy. Local government rests under the state, and is comprised of the county, payam, and boma administrations. Payams and bomas roughly correspond to the district and village levels, respectively.

Economy - Sudan’s economy is dominated by oil. Revenue from oil accounts for 98 percent of the annual budget in the South and 60 to 70 percent of the annual budget in the North. Since Sudan first started exporting oil in 1999, agricultural production in the country has steadily declined. According to the World Bank (2009: 10), the average annual growth rate of the agricultural sector between 2000 and 2008 was only 3.6 percent, a fraction of the 10.8 percent growth rate of the previous decade.


Land ownership - There are essentially three types of landowners in South Sudan: (1) ethnic communities, (2) government at the GoSS, state, and local levels, and (3) private leaseholders. Communities are by far the largest landowners in the sense that they retain the right to regulate the usage of community land under customary law. The three-levels of government also own a considerable amount of land in the form of protected areas (e.g. national parks, game reserves, forest reserves) and pre-war agro-industrial complexes. Most of these areas were gazette by either the British colonial administration or the central government in Khartoum after independence. Privately held leaseholds are mostly found in and around urban areas. However, in recent years, foreign and domestic companies have acquired large amounts of rural land through leases with communities and government institutions.

The future - From 9-14 January 2011, South Sudanese voted in a referendum on self-determination to decide whether to remain united with the North or to secede and form an independent nation in the South. As expected, voters opted overwhelmingly for independence, with 98.8 percent of the electorate voting in favor of secession (SSRC 2011). Yet the situation remains tense. North and South must still resolve a host of post-referendum issues, from citizenship to border demarcation to wealth sharing to the status of the contested oil-rich border region of Abyei, before South Sudan declares its independence on 9 July 2011. The South too has its own internal challenges. The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) has dominated the Government of South Sudan(GoSS) since it was established in 2005. In order to consolidate the peace in South Sudan, the SPLM has begun trying to open political space in the South and provide for the meaningful participation of opposition groups. The litmus test for these efforts to create a more inclusive government will be the upcoming constitutional review process, culminating in a new transitional constitution to guide the country into the post-independence period.

Promising sectors

In cooperation with the Netherlands Embassy in Khartoum, NABC selected four promising sectors for the trade mission in October 2011. The information is focused on the opportunities for the private sector in the Netherlands.

Infrastructure

The current condition of infrastructure in South Sudan is poor. During the last decades, the region has been neglected by the government in Khartoum and infrastructural projects has been limited to a minimum. The poor state of the infrastructure has been underlined by the GoSS which named it one of the largest challenges to economic development. South Sudan, which is the size of France has only 50 kilometers of paved streets and no paved highways. However, since the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2005 over 2.000 kilometer of roads have been opened. In 2010, the Ministry of Roads and Transport (MoRT) allocated 181 million USD to infrastructure projects of which 107.5 million USD was allocated to road construction. Juba – Nimule Road The current life-line of the South Sudan’s economy is the 192 kilometer road from Juba to the Ugandan (Juba – Nimule Road) border which connects the country to Kenya’s Indian Ocean ports and the outside world. The road is currently being paved with support from the US government by a 225 million USD grant. The refurbishment will be a boost for the South Sudanese economy as transport to the border will be reduced from 8 to 2,5 hours. The road is expected to be completed in January 2012. In addition, several United Nations programs are renovating up to 2.000 kilometers of dirt roads linking the major cities and towns in South Sudan.


Malakal – Ethiopian border road Another noticeable infrastructure project is the construction of a 250-kilometer road from Malakal (capital Wilayah State) to Nasser, Jekou and Jikou on the 1.400 kilometer border with Ethiopia. The GoSS has awarded the contract to Khartoum based Eyat Road & Bridges Co Ltd (a subsidiary of Eyat Oilfields Services Company Ltd) and Ethiopian owned Double Alpha Construction. The firstly mentioned company Eyat Road & Bridges Co Ltd is involved in several other projects as well worth up to 568 million USD in total. The construction of the road is expected to be finalized in 2013. Sudan Infrastructure Services Project In recent years several donor-funded infrastructural projects have started in South Sudan. One of the major projects is the USAID funded Sudan Infrastructure Services Project (SISP) – largely executed by the US based Louis Berger Group. The total size of the 5-year project is 700 million USD and it officially finishes in September 2011. In the past year, the company constructed many roads, bridges and buildings throughout South Sudan. One of the most recent projects is the construction of the Anyama Border Bridge connection Juba to the Ugandan border. New South Sudan Initiative The most remarkable project is the initiative called New South Sudan which is a public-private infrastructure project conceptualized by Abu Malek Companies & Agencies Ltd (AMCA) from Abu Dhabi. The housing project will cover 14 locations across South Sudan building a total of 147.000 housing units. The project is said to be worth 10.1 billion USD. At the moment, the majority of infrastructural works are undertaken by regional and international companies. The most important players are:

China National Overseas Engineering Corporation (COVEC) ABM Construction Company Tamama Construction Company Roko Construction Limited Fattouch Industrial Holdings Eyat Construction Company Lopi Contractors Jophco Engineering and Construction Company Five Books Engineering Company

In 2010, Egypt Air launched a twice-a-week flight from Cairo to Juba to cater the South Sudanese living in Egypt. Due to political unrest in the North African country – the flights have been cancelled for a few months in the beginning of 2011 but resumed normal schedule in April 2011. Another more small-scale project is Luri River Waterfront - www.luririverwaterfront.com - which aims to attract investors in the real-estate sector.

Energy

At the moment around 5% of the population is South Sudan is supplied with energy and around 20%

of the urban population is connected to the grid – compared to 1% in the rural areas. With 44 kWh a

year South Sudan has one of the lowest average per capita in the world. The sources of electricity

generation in the south Sudan are diesel-fueled generators. These generators are not locally

manufactured. In addition, lack of spare parts and maintenance and fuel keep the costs of these

http://www.luririverwaterfront.com/


generators higher. Power outage amongst these generators is a common feature, this in another

word means that these generators are loaded and the power is not sufficient for those who are

connected. In Juba, there are only five generators in operation with total power of (5MW), Malakal

(2MW) and Wau (2MW). The poor energy infrastructure is one of the main challenges for the new

government. However – the Nile offers numerous possibilities for hydropower projects and due to its

climate – solar energy also offers possibilities for the more rural areas.

Hydropower

The river Nile is of key importance to the new government of South Sudan. In 2010, the local

authorities identified eleven sites where they plan to build

hydroelectric plants in order to exploit the White Nile and other

rivers. According to the official state authorities, these projects

could generate up to 2.000 megawatt hours of power per day.

The GoSS rated that the four major sites around Juba would cost

around 1 billion USD. It has to be noted that the Nile as a source

for energy (or water) has a political string attached as well as the

river flows through Uganda (white Nile) and Ethiopia (Blue Nile)

before it flows into the Mediterranean see in Egypt. As are

result these countries have set up the Nile Basin Initiative which

includes the above mentioned countries and Kenya, Tanzania,

DRC, Burundi, Rwanda and Eritrea (observer status) in order to develop river initiatives in a socio-

economic way taking into account the needs of the countries throughout the region.

Solar Energy

With roughly 90% of the population living in rural areas and 8 hours of sun hours daily, solar energy

offers numerous possibilities for the private sector. However, up-to-date solar energy projects are

limited and supply of solar panels is limited. The major challenges for the solar sector is the lack of

expertise to install and repair solar related projects. One major recent development is a public

private partnership between the Chinese private sector and government and their South Sudanese

counterparts. Both sides agreed in December 2010 to establish a factory to produce panel solar cells

in order to boost the sector. The initiative is part of the Chinese involvement in the oil and gas sector.

Oil & gas

South Sudan produces 85% of Sudanese oil output. The oil revenues according to the Comprehensive

Peace Agreement (CPA), are to be split equally for the duration of the agreement period. Oil

revenues constitute more than 98% of the semi-autonomous government of South Sudan's budget.

The oil and other mineral resources can be found throughout South Sudan, but the Bentiu is

commonly known as being especially rich in oil, while Jonglei, Warap and Lakes states have potential

reserves.

In recent years, a significant amount of foreign-based oil drilling has begun in South Sudan, raising

the land's geopolitical profile. Khartoum has partitioned much of Sudan into blocks, with about 85%

of the oil coming from the South. Blocks 1, 2, and 4 are controlled by the largest overseas

consortium, the Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Company (GNPOC). GNPOC is composed of the

following players: China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC, People's Republic of China), with a


40% stake; Petronas (Malaysia), with 30%; Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (India), with 25%; and

Sudapet of the central Sudan government with 5%.

The wealth-sharing section of the CPA states that all agreements signed prior to the CPA would hold;

they would not be subject to review by the National Petroleum Commission (NPC), a commission set

up by the CPA and composed of both Khartoum and Southers and co-chaired by both President al-

Bashir of Khartoum and President Kiir of South Sudan. However, the CPA does not specify who could

sign those pre-CPA agreements.

The oil & gas sector is highly politicized sector and the major source of conflict between the north

and the south. The sector is expected to play a major role in the future development of the country.

Agriculture

Agriculture is the backbone of the economic development in south Sudan, employing the majority of

the population of whom 80 percent live in rural areas. Currently, the region depends totally on food

imports from neighboring countries such as Uganda, Kenya and northern Sudan. The major crops

produced in this sector includes, sorghum, maize, rice, sunflower, cotton, sesame, cassava, beans

and peanuts. Other crops that are produced in small scale include: coffee, tea, sugar and tobacco.

There is great potential for growing fruits and vegetables such as bananas, mangoes, lemons,

pineapples, onions, okra, tomatoes, eggplants, potatoes and cabbages.

Livestock is of great importance to the economy of the South Sudanese, especially for food security,

employment and culture. It is estimated that South Sudan has a total population of 12 million heads

of cattle and 11 million heads of sheep and goats. The larger proportion of the livestock is found in

Greater upper Nile and Greater Bahr El Gazal regions. Furthermore, the area enjoys a large stock of

fish resources in the River Nile and its many tributaries. Therefore, there are more chances for

investment in the area of fisheries in South Sudan.

Ecologically, the area has a sub-humid climate and favorable rainfall which is divided into seven agro-

ecological zones namely; the Greenbelt, the Ironstone Plateau, the Central and Southeastern Hills

and Mountains, the Flood Plains, the Nile and Sobat rivers zone, the arid and pastoral zone and the

Central Rain lands. The rainfall pattern varies by region

ranging from 500 -2000 mm per year and provides

growing season of 130 - 300 days. Therefore,

agricultural performance varies considerably from

climate zone to climate zone and from year to year.

Furthermore, the temperatures are typically above

25°C, but rise above 35°C, particularly during the dry

season, which lasts four months per year from January

to April. In terms of resources, the region is blessed

with ample natural and human resources that include

vast fertile lands, extensive hardwood forestry, large amounts of fresh water and minerals, and

variety of livestock. These endowments have made the region suitable for different kinds of

agricultural and economic activities, such as production of food and cash crops, livestock and

fisheries, production of wood and furniture, minerals, construction of tourism hotels and oil.


After the signing of the peace agreement – several agricultural projects have been launched by the

government and international donors. Several of these projects are discussed below:

US-NL Agriculture Communique

USAID, the Netherlands, the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, and the International Fertilizer

Development Center signed the communiqué, agreeing that they will help develop south Sudan’s

commercial agriculture sector by increasing agricultural productivity, supporting agribusinesses, and

improving agricultural research and technology through:

Expanded use of quality seed and integrated soil fertility management;

Development and expansion of an agro-dealer network;

Revitalization of local agricultural training and research centers;

Development of policies and regulations that support business development, sound

regulatory practices, and innovation;

Development of institutions that promote and support market infrastructure and

information systems;

Increasing farmers’ and entrepreneurs’ access to finance.

FARM Program

The U.S. started a 55 USD million program in South Sudan mainly to help improve the ability of small

farmers to grow staple crops. The five-year initiative, called the Food, Agribusiness, and Rural

Markets (FARM) program, will focus on the Equatorial region, where agricultural production is seen

to have the greatest potential. FARM constructed two different projects:

South Sudan Cassave Project

Food Security and Livelihoods Improvement Project

SAB Miller

International brewery company SAB Miller has set up South Sudan Beverages Ltd and built a state-of-

the-art brewery in Juba. The first brew came down the line in 2009. It now produces more than two

million liters a year.

Water

As mentioned – the river Nile is the main source for energy – but also key in access to water. All

actions according to exploiting are heavily politicized.

Under a 1929 agreement between Egypt (which had

control over Sudan) and Britain, and a 1959 agreement

between Egypt and Sudan, Egypt controls up to 90% of

the Nile River water. The question is whether South

Sudan would recognize these old treaties or work with

Nile basin countries in eastern Africa for a new accord.

If it honors the colonial pacts, as it has indicated to the

Egyptians, the South would still need to negotiate with

Khartoum over what percentage of the 18.5 billion cubic meters of water designated to Sudan it can

claim.


Currently, there are several NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations) involved in various drinking

water projects. The majority of these projects are small-scale and focus on various rural areas

throughout the region.

The government underlines the problems within the water sector as an official from the Ministry of

Water Resources and Irrigation recently stated: “Ever since 2005 when the people started returning

from exile to their villages in the different states in south Sudan, they have been suffering from a

shortage of clean water … even Juba, the capital city of south Sudan, lacked clean water. He said that

government has however come up with a master plan to supply Juba and all the ten states with

water”. The website of the Ministry indicates a number of projects & programs that are planned to

be executed in the near future:

a. Embankment of flood control dikes in floods prone areas of Phom el-Zeraf (Fangak

County) and Twic East County, in Jonglei State, so as to protect lives, properties,

farmlands and wet season grazing areas from flooding and reclaim lands for returnees;

b. Water harvesting constructions (Hafiirs and Barriers), so as to increase spatial and

seasonal availability of water for various uses;

c. Rehabilitation and construction of rural water supply and sanitation facilities, with

emphasis being on guinea worm endemic villages, schools, health centres, market places,

administrative centres and other areas where communities congregate;

d. In close collaboration with the South Sudan Urban Water Corporation (SSUWC) that was

established to operate urban water facilities, improve their sustainability and expand the

service coverage;

e. Operation, maintenance, management, rehabilitation, and provision of Irrigation

facilities, in an effort to boost food security;

f. Collection and archiving of data pertaining to Water Resources;

g. Preparation of Water Resources Management, Rural Water Supply and Sanitation, and

Urban Water Supply and Sanitation Strategies for the implementation of the

Government of South Sudan Water Policy;

h. Projects of Investment Cooperation with some Chinese Public Companies: In 2006 the

Ministry signed MOU with China Construction and Machinery Company (CCM); and in

collaboration with CCM experts, surveys were carried out for the opening of blocked

rivers in the Zeraf Island and for the construction of a bridge to allow navigation of the

Bahr el-Ghazal at Bentiu;

i. Projects of Technical and Development cooperation with Egypt: The Government of

Egypt offered and pledged six projects at a value of 26.6 million US dollars, over a period

of three years;

j. National Projects through the Dams Implementation Unit (DIU): Since October 2006, the

Ministry started coordination of DIU activities in South Sudan;


k. The Nile Basin Initiative (NBI): In collaboration with the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI)

Subsidiary Action Programmes; namely the Eastern Nile Subsidiary Action Programme

(ENSAP) and the Nile Equatorial Lakes Subsidiary Action Programme (NELSAP); and

l. Training and Capacity Building.

An important institution within in South Sudan in executing these programs is the South Sudan Urban

Water Corporation.

Relevant contacts

Netherlands Embassy Khartoum

Street 47

House nr. 76

Khartoum

Tel: (+249)183 471012/471198/471200

Fax: (+249)183 480304

E-mail: [email protected]

South Sudan Chamber of Commerce, Agriculture & Industry

Adjacent to Summer Palace Hotel,

Juba

Tel: (+249) 955122462

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.sschamber-commerce.org

South Sudan Investment Authority

Emmanuel Bol Kuanyin

Secretary General

Juba

Tel: (+256) 477 130 560 / (+249) 122 250 705

Email: [email protected]

Joint Donor Office Juba

[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.sschamber-commerce.org/



Documents

Fact Sheet South Sudan