Citizens in Lainya, Yei and Morobo counties of Central Equatoria State said they do not know why the construction of the 146 miles road linking South Sudan to neighbouring Uganda through the western road corridor was stopped after bush clearing.
The Juba-Lainya-Yei-Morobo road, also known as the Aggrey Jaden road, is among the road projects initiated by President Salva Kiir. The president had allocated 30,000 barrels of crude oil per day to Chinese firms to build roads in the country. It remains unclear whether the crude oil policy for development has been stopped or not.
The African Resource Corporation (ARC), the lead project implementer, sub-contracted nine other local and foreign road construction companies, which started with bush clearing from the Bungu area in Juba County in April this year.
Speaking to Radio Tamazuj on Thursday, Peter Lokudu, a resident of Lainya town, said: “They did a bush clearing here, but now the project stopped, and we don’t know why. The road has been cleared from Bungu up to Lainya Center, and along Yei-Lainya road, it ended in Koya. Currently, the road is in bad shape; once it rains, trucks get stuck in the mud. Currently, the companies are not working, and we don’t know why they stopped working on the road.”
Meanwhile, Duku Elias, a resident in Yei River County, said the bush clearing along the Lainya-Yei-Morobo road has stopped for about three months. He said the grading machines and personnel are nowhere to be seen.
“They came to Yei, did bush clearing and demarcation, but we are not seeing them moving forward. They did bush clearing from the Yei airstrip up to Liggi village of Mugwo Payam, and we don’t know why there is no progress.”
Ropani Matayo, a resident in Morobo town, said that the road bush clearing, which started around the Yei-Morobo County border, passed Morobo town, but it was stopped before reaching the Bazi area.
She said the road construction equipment had been packed while the workers are nowhere to be seen in Morobo County.
The Ministry of Road and Bridges and the management of ARC could not immediately be reached for comment.
In May, the former minister of finance, Agak Achuil Lual, said the government has been unable to pay civil servants for months as the country’s oil revenues are spent servicing oil-backed loans that will not be paid off until 2027.
“The reason we are not paying the arrears is that the oil is going (towards) the loans which have been taken before,” Agak said following a visit to the United States. “Where am I going to get the money if the oil has been sold in advance up to 2027?”