The construction of the Juba-Lainya-Yei-Morobo-Kaya highway has resumed after a two months hiatus with the contractor setting the road’s bed and compacting murram, a Lainya County official said.

In September, several residents in Lainya, Yei, Morobo, and Kaya towns told Radio Tamazuj that the construction works along the highway, which is named Aggrey Jaden Road, came to a standstill over unknown reasons.

However, Lainya County Commissioner Emmanuel Khamis Richard said that a team of engineers from the contractors, Africa Resources Corporation (ARC) and KIT Construction Company, are now in Lainya County and have resumed work on the road.

“This is continuous work and compacting of murram is ongoing and according to the contract, ARC will start tarmacking the road from Juba coming towards Lainya,” he said. “Let us support such developmental projects in the country.”

James Lenga, a traveler along the road, confirmed that ARC engineers are working on the road around the areas of Bungu, Ganji, and Lokwili of Juba and Lainya counties.

“We have seen road engineers putting marrum on the road around Bungu and others are also in Ganji and near Lainya measuring and demarcating the road,” Lenga said. “We also saw earthmovers working on the road and I want to thank the government for this good road project. This road should be completed to connect people to Juba, Yei, Morobo, Kaya, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).”

Meanwhile, Monica Tabu, a resident of Lainya town, said she was happy with the resumption of the road works and urged the contractors to ensure that they do quality work.

“I pray they complete work on this road because traveling to Yei or Juba from Lainya takes around five hours which is a big challenge because a one-hour journey takes five hours,” she said. “What we want is good roads so that we can take agricultural produce to markets in Yei and Juba. I am happy with the resumption of work on this road.”

The Aggrey Jaden Road connects South Sudan to the neighboring Uganda and DRC.