Commissioner of Yei River County in Central Equatoria State has on Sunday confirmed that Yei Electricity Corporation or YECO will resume its operation.
Aggrey Cyrus Kanyikwa explains that the county government has reached a partnership agreement with Nile Corps
He assures people of the government’s commitment to provide security and other necessary requirements for running the utility to ensure consistency of the public power.
Cyrus adds that the company will run the utility in shared responsibility with the government.
He entrusted Nile Corps Company to establish meter system to reduce burden of payment collection to avoid defaulting bills payment.
The commissioner warns the public against taking the electricity to be for free and defaulting payment of bills.
“We have reached a partnership with Nile Corp in a public private partnership that means Nile Corp shall be running the utility in a shared responsibility with the government where they will be unable to fulfil some mandates, government will aid them. The government will provide security and other necessary arrangements that are required to run the utility to ensure that it is run. We have also entrusted and tasked Nile Corp to establish a meter system to reduce the burden of payment collection where users of electricity default and become aggressive when payment is asked. I want to underline here that the electricity is not for free”, he says
The local government leader urges the Nile Corp Company to be consistent with supply of the public power and respect the signed agreement.
He says the agreement reached is for ten years and subject to renewal for the betterment and development of the county.
Commissioner Cyrus believes that the agreement reached to resume operation of the public power is a preparation for the future generation to benefit.
He urges the company not to work for self-interest, but for the interest of the people of Yei River County, Central Equatoria and South Sudan as a whole.
“May I wish them the best that we will run together and shall not divorce each other and that this agreement will remain for the next ten Years as we observe whether they are doing it well and we will continue to renew this agreement as we move on.we are preparing a future for those who are not born and those who are growing to benefit through that a better future is prepared by this current generation. So each one of us who are here should not make it for themselves but remove out self-interest and put the interest of the people of Yei County first”, advises Cyrus.
Meanwhile Martin Lomatayo Nile Corps chief executive officer expresses delight for reaching the agreement to partner with the local government.
He promises to provide services to bring economic development in Yei and improve security in the county.
“I am very delighted today that we are opening a new chapter in the history of Yei River County and south Sudan that we are making a local partnership between a local company and local government. What we want to do is to provide services to bring economic development to the county and improve security in the area. I hope that this will be a long prosperous journey for us. What I want us to do is to build a better Yei for tomorrow. We want to leave Yei better than we found”, promises the company’s chief executive officer.
Yei Electricity Cooperation has suffered management crisis since the onset of the conflict in the region in 2016.
Government tried to establish committees tasked to manage running of the power but all failed to manage the public power that made utility of electricity to collapse.
All the agreements with the former committees were withdrawn and the responsibility is entrusted to Nile Corps in partnership with the county government.