Problematic Khartoum fuel shortage, Red Sea state water shortage

Fuel shortages in the Sudanese capital resulted in queues of vehicles in front of fuel pumps on Thursday. Red Sea state’s Durdeib is running low on drinking water because of the non-operation of the water station.

Local transport in Khartoum suffered as less vehicles became overcrowded with passengers. A rent car driver told Radio Dabanga that the transport stations in Khartoum were very crowded.

A fuel pump employee said that some stations ran out of fuel. “The situation was almost the same as in the 1990s when passengers were seen scrambling for a ride, by climbing through windows of transport cars.”

In Singa, the capital of Sennar state, most of the fuel pumps also ran out of fuel this week. An employee reported that all but one of the fuel pumps in the city have been closed for days for lack of fuel, and the crisis caused a new rise in the prices of essential goods, this along with rise of the transportation.

A lack of fuel in Darfur, Kassala, and Kordofan’s states has caused large tracts of cultivated land to dry up in February, as irrigation pumps could not be operated.

Water shortage

Durdeib in Red Sea state has witnessed a shortage of potable water for more than six months. Journalist Osman Hashim told Radio Dabanga that the water shortage in Durdeib started following the non-operation of the local water station. “Since then, the crisis has been going on. Local authorities have shown a complete disregard of the issue.”

As a result the price of a barrel of water has risen to SDG 15 to SDG 20 ($0.80-$1.10).