Water tankers filling at the newly-built water-point in Juba. (Photo: Eye Radio).

The Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation, Pal Mai Deng, said his institution and the South Sudan Urban Water Corporation are not legally mandated to set selling prices for blue water tankers.

Mai, who was summoned to the national parliament on Wednesday to explain the rising cost of water in Juba City, said the blue tankers are still buying from the government water plant at 500 South Sudan pounds per drum.

However, he stated that the commercial water sellers are entirely responsible for determining their final prices to the consumers.

According to him, the ministry and the South Sudan Urban Water Corporation do not have any direct link with the blue water tankers and do not set their prices.

“The owners of blue tankers come and take a drum of water from South Sudan Urban Water Corporation only at SSP 500 and go to sell this drum of water at a price they determine on their own,” he told the lawmakers.

“I would also like to clarify the relationship between South Sudan Urban Water Corporation and the owners of blue tankers because if we have a relationship, we can also be summoned. We can also be asked by the parliament to give clarification.”

“But for your information, South Sudan Urban Water Corporation does not have any relationship or direct relation with the owners of blue tankers.”

Minister Mai further explained that they have successfully connected pipe water to 6,000 households out of the targeted 8,000 in Juba after obtaining funding from the African Development Bank.

He stated that the initiative is aimed at enhancing the provision of clean drinking water at affordable prices to the city residents.

He further said there is a need to obtain a bigger water treatment plant with a 200 cubic meter per second capacity to enable city-wide reach.

“The medium-term solution that we are now pursuing is to have household connections. We have got small funding from the African Development Bank, which enables us now to expand household connections, and as we speak, we have succeeded in connecting 6,000 households, and the target is 8,000.”

“It is not enough because the capacity of the facility that we have is so small that it cannot cover each and every household through connection. We need to have a bigger water treatment plant with a capacity of 200 cubic meters per second. The government has not given money.”