Expanded Government Meeting to Address Port Sudan’s Water Crisis

Port Sudan – Sudanhorizon

An expanded meeting was held today (Sunday) at the temporary headquarters of the Ministry of Finance in Port Sudan, attended by the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Dr. Jibril Ibrahim, Red Sea State Governor Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Mustafa Mohamed Nour, Acting Minister of Irrigation and Water Resources Engineer Daw Al-Bait Abdel Rahman, and representatives from the state’s Ministry of Irrigation. The meeting discussed immediate and long-term solutions to Port Sudan’s water crisis.
The Minister of Finance and Economic Planning reaffirmed the federal government’s commitment to supporting all immediate and future measures to resolve the water issue in Port Sudan. He confirmed the Ministry of Finance’s commitment to providing the necessary funding for the required tools to address the crisis and overcoming obstacles to ensure the government’s goal of providing clean drinking water to the state’s residents.
The minister revealed the government’s efforts to secure funding for Port Sudan’s water from regional financial institutions, including the African Development Bank and the Arab Centre for the Studies of Arid Zones and Dry Lands (ACSAD), which have expressed interest in participating in the rehabilitation of Port Sudan’s water systems. The meeting endorsed the Ministry of Irrigation’s comprehensive plan for both short-term and long-term solutions to the water problem following the collapse of the Arbaat Dam and the flooding of the wells that supply the city with drinking water.
The meeting assessed the extent of the damage to the wells and the dam. It explored ways to repair and rehabilitate them in collaboration with UNICEF and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). It was agreed that qualified companies should be identified to prepare urgent studies to start the fundamental solutions to the water issue while also focusing on immediate measures, such as rehabilitating other dams like Sallalab Dam and completing water supply lines from these sources to Port Sudan.