By William Garang
The government has announced that civil servants will begin receiving their overdue salaries. According to Dr. Marial Dongrin, Minister of Finance and Planning, the disbursement of the delayed payments commenced today, Thursday.
“While we are having challenges and delays in the releasing of the salaries – I would like to announce that the government is releasing salaries starting today (Thursday),” said Dongrin.
“We commit to regularly release salaries every month,” he added during the signing of the Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets Regulation.
This development came just a day after the Sudanese government fixed the spoilage oil pipeline to allow the transit of South Sudan crude oil to the world market.
However, the hating of oil had negative repercussions on the economy of Africa’s youngest nation.
“We are trying our best to ensure that the little we have is utilized to pay the public sector employees to keep the government running, and very soon, we will be out of a wood,” he noted.
So far, civil servants and organized forces have gone for over 11 months without payments.
Recently, the country experienced a spring of strikes from public universities over salary delays. Staff members voiced their discontent over unpaid salaries stretching back 11 months, flight tickets that had not been honored since 2019, and unpaid medical allowances.
A day ago, a government delegation to Port Sudan confirmed that critical repairs to oil facilities had been successfully completed, clearing the path for the resumption of production and exploration.
The head of the delegation, Dr. Chol Deng Thon, who is also the Undersecretary in the Ministry of Petroleum, said the oil facilities are now in good condition following repairs, paving the way for the imminent resumption of production and exploration.
“The importance of this visit was to check the status of resumption pump station number 6, which happens to be the most critical station along the pipeline, and all the operations and the issues of operation were hedging on fixing the pumping station number 6, which we have just seen,” he said.
“All the preparations are going well. We have been briefed by the operating company, and the station number is ready; on the technical side, based on the report we have received, we can confirm that the pipeline is ready for the resumption to happen,” he added.
The main pipeline carrying oil from South Sudan through Sudan for export was halted in February because of damage stemming from a war between Sudan’s army and the Rapid Support Forces.
Analysts say the damage is leading to serious environmental contamination and that the stoppage has contributed to higher food prices in Sudan, where millions face extreme hunger.
South Sudan currently produces nearly 200, 000 barrels per day which it exports through the Sudanese port following the 2012 deal that allowed the Sudanese government to receive $25 per barrel of crude oil.