Donors and officials held a ceremony at the construction site of a Japanese-funded bridge near South Sudan's capital city Juba today. The new bridge at Rajaf Payam will cost an estimated $91 million and will e completed in 2018.

The current bridge was built in 1974 and will be inadequate to support the volume of goods and passengers carried across it every day owing to the growing population of Juba.

The new Freedom Bridge will be 560 meters long with sufficient width for both east and westbound traffic and a pedestrian sidewalk.

Japanese Ambassador Takeshi Akamatsu said today, “I sincerely hope that this bridge, which bares the name of ‘Freedom’, will serve as a symbol and a reminder for all the stakeholders in this crisis, to give peace a chance, after disappointment of the last round of Addis Ababa peace talks.”

President Salva Kiir said the foundation which people witnessed today was very significant in the history of South Sudan. He said that the war that started on 15 December 2013 was made by the enemies of South Sudan to discourage all the friends of South Sudan.

“The construction of Freedom Bridge is part of our strategy to support our economic growth through improved safe and sustainable road infrastructure. The envisaged growth is expected to result to improved inter-state trade as well as improve trade with our neighbours within region,” he added.

“Let us now work alone as a citizens of this country, nobody will come and build our country for us, we have to start and our friends will come and help us like what our friends Japanese have done for us.”

For his part, Clement Wani Konga, Governor of Central Equatoria State said that his state government have recovered 125 plots to the communities of Rajaf Payam affected by the construction work.