By Anak Dut

The Ministry of Environment and Forestry said they have resolved the impasses that caused the closure of the water bottling factories.

Addressing the media yesterday, Joseph Africano Bartel, the Undersecretary for the Ministry of Environment said water bottling factories had resumed their operations and they agreed to pay the environmental fees accordingly.

He stated that according to the new Financial Act, 500ml bottles cost 1 cent and a kilogram of preform is 0.20 cents.

The undersecretary disclosed that the ministry planned to launch the buyback project in the first week of next month.

He said the initiative will be replicated across the states where anyone with a plastic bottle can take it to the centers for sale.

Africano said the ministry had contracted a recycling company called Plascom which is tasked to handle those plastic bottles that will be taken there to be crushed.

He said the shredded bottles could be exported to countries that require them.

“So, this will help clear all the plastic bottles which are littering the streets, and streams that cause environmental pollution.”

However, Africano appealed to the water bottling factories to set up real recycling plants to enable the country to transform whatever it has to produce its raw materials.

He continued that the lack of power generation to produce energy is a hindering factor to the country’s development.

“So, as the ministry, we are advocating for the generation of 3,000 megawatts of clean energy from hydro, solar, wind, geothermal and natural gas,” Africano added.

On his part, Adam Kubanja the Chairman of the Association of South Sudan Manufacturers stressed the importance of water, saying at no point should water be expensive that a common man cannot afford.

“The levy that has been imposed out of the calculations is not a hefty levy which will be burdening the end consumers.”

According to him, the ministry will be monitoring the price of water to ensure a fair amount which should not even be SSP 15,000.

Kubanja unveiled that the water bottling companies had contracted Plascom to set up shops across the city.

He said all the money that is collected would be taken to Nimule and the company would be accounting for it because every cent collected will be used for the buyback of the bottles.