South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir will officially open the long-awaited Freedom Bridge on 19 May 2022, a senior official announced.
In March 2015, President Salva Kiir and the Japan International Cooperation Agency inaugurated the 3.6 kilometre-long bridge. The project was expected to reach completion within a few years after the inauguration.
But when renewed conflict erupted in 2016, Japanese aid workers were evacuated from South Sudan and suspended the construction of the Freedom Bridge.
In 2019 after the resumption of the construction, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Japanese engineers working on the bridge were again evacuated, putting another halt to the construction.
The announcement on the official opening of the bridge followed a report by the Minister of Roads and Bridges, Simon Mijok Mijak during the Council of Ministers Meeting on April 4 declaring the completion of the bridge.
“We listened to an information from the Minister of Roads and Bridges, Simon Mijok Mijak and he informed us that the Freedom Bridge is at present ready, and the commissioning of the Bridge will be done by H.E the President on the 19th of May this month, 2022,” Information Minister Michael Makuei told the media on Friday.
Makuei called on members of the public to show up and celebrate the occasion. “We are calling upon the public to attend that day to come and participate and celebrate with the people of South Sudan,” he said.
The initial estimated cost of the construction was $91 million but in 2019, the government of Japan pledged an additional $28 million for the completion of the bridge
The Bridge, which connects Gumbo to Lologo, is expected to ease traffic on the Gumbo Bridge that has gone several repairs and limited passage of heavy trucks importing goods from East Africa.