Passenger vehicle drivers in Aweil town in Northern Bahr el Ghazal State have been on a go-slow since last Thursday after municipal authorities issued an order to relocate the town’s main bus station from Ayuang to the Malou Aweer neighborhood.
Dominic Kuol, the drivers’ union chairman in the state, said that the new bus station is inadequate, cannot accommodate their vehicles besides being muddy and far from Aweil town’s main market.
“We spent two days demonstrating. The military police were deployed to move us forcefully to the proposed station,” Kuol said. “We are disappointed about the relocation order because the place they moved us to is private property. The site is muddy and does not have large entrance and exit points.”
Another driver, Deng Mayen, said they rejected the town mayor’s order and suspended their services simply because the new site is far from the markets where people do business.
“This problem started yesterday (Wednesday) when the main bus station was moved to Malou Aweer which is not a suitable location for transportation activities,” Mayen explained. “The bus station is supposed to be based near markets where citizens do their businesses. I never went to work today (Thursday) and I do not know what is going on there now.”
An affected commuter, Abuk Nget, said the relocation of the bus station has negative impacts on the common citizens because the new station is too far from the Aweil market and that commuters will have to pay more in fares.
“The newly established Malou Aweer bus station is too far for us. It is better to maintain the old one because it is in the middle of town for people who come from different sides of Aweil. It is better for the municipality officials to establish an independent bus station in Malou,” Nget said.
For his part, Aweil Mayor Garang Deng Diing said the government has decided to relocate the bus station because the current one is not in a healthy environment.
“The former Aweil bus station is situated near the mortuary where dead bodies are kept for many days which may cause health problems for the passengers as a result of the stench from the site,” Mayor Deng said.