The authorities in Warrap State on Monday said at least 11 trucks loaded with food and non-food items got stranded in Gogrial West County while on their way to Abyei and Unity State.
Madhieu Thiep Madhieu, the Warrap State Minister for Physical Infrastructure, Roads and Bridges, told Radio Tamazuj Monday that poor roads hindered the movement of the heavy goods vehicles and other commercial trucks that would have delivered commodities that would result in the reduction of prices.
“I accessed the Gogrial-Akon road after the heavy rains of the last two days and discovered that the rains completely damaged the road connecting Kuajok Town to Gogrial Headquarters of Gogrial West County. I saw six trucks loaded with food items that have spent three days there,” he explained. “The roads in Warrap are generally in very bad shape and most of the counties are inaccessible with Tonj East and Twic counties being very difficult to reach as we speak. One truck loaded with subsidized food procured by the government is stranded on the road to Tonj East County.”
Minister Thiep revealed that the companies contracted to rehabilitate the roads are complaining about delayed payments by the national government. He said the bad roads will lead to skyrocketing commodity prices, affect the delivery of health services, and delay security interventions.
“The companies need money from the national ministry of finance to pay their staff and purchase fuel for operations,” he lamented. “The bad roads affect the delivery of goods, taking delivering mothers, the sickly and elderly to better health facilities and finally, it delays government’s intervention in case of communal conflicts.”
Meanwhile, Gogrial West County Commissioner Victor Wek confirmed the poor state of the roads in his jurisdiction after torrential rains.
“The Kuajok-Gogrial Town-Akoon-Twic County road is in terrible condition with some parts full of mud so big trucks carrying food and fuel tankers are stuck there,” he explained. “I talked to the managers of Africa Resources Corporation (ARC), the company working on the roads because their sub-contractors stopped work saying they have no fuel and they said they are trying to resolve the issue but also lack money.”
“In the meantime, the prices of food commodities in the local markets have gone up,” Commissioner Wek stated.