Sudan agrees with two Turkish companies to set up a factory for electricity towers

Sudan agrees with two Turkish companies to set up a factory for electricity towers
The Sudanese government on Thursday signed an agreement with two Turkish companies to set up a plant to produce high voltage line towers and electrical wiring.
The Sudanese Electricity Transmission Company has signed an agreement with Turkey's Emta and Semi to set up a plant in Sudan to produce high-voltage towers and transmission wires for transmission and distribution networks, according to the official Sudanese news agency SUNA.
The Minister of State in the Ministry of Water Resources, Irrigation and Electricity, Yousef Hamza, said that his country is continuing its policies to settle the inputs of the electricity industry, in addition to involving the private sector in promoting the electricity sector as the engine of economy and development.
In turn, the company's director, Hassan Omar, said the plant will be located in the industrial zone of Jili, north of the capital Khartoum, and will enter the production circle next year.
Omar pointed out that the plant represents a major boost to the implementation of projects linking the Darfur (West), South Kordofan (South) and Blue Nile (South East) states to the national network.
He stressed his contribution to the implementation of the plan to strengthen the national network and the dismantling of bottlenecks, and enable the network to absorb renewable energy projects.
The plant will manufacture 110, 220 and 500 kV towers, as well as aluminum conveyors used in transmission and distribution networks.
On 26 December, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan concluded a visit to Sudan, accompanied by 200 businessmen, as part of an African tour. The visit witnessed the signing of 21 agreements in various fields.
Both officials said they were seeking to raise their trade volume to 10 billion dollars, up from half a billion dollars in 2016.
The bilateral relations between Sudan and Turkey developed after the Justice and Development Party (AKP) came to power in Turkey in 2002 and saw significant improvement during the subsequent period.