The road linking Juba and Western Lake State has reopened after it was closed due to a flood that spoiled Barnaam Bridge three month ago.
A state official admitted on Wednesday that they have received over one hundred trucks loaded with mixed goods since three days ago from Juba after the state authority managed to repair the damaged bridge linking the South Sudanese capital Juba and Western Lake State.
Dut Makuet, Information Minister of Western Lake State told Radio Tamazuj on same day that the trucks started to arrive on Monday, with some heading into Rumbek town and others proceeding into other parts of the Bahr el Ghazal region.
Makuet said the recent arrivals of mixed goods into Rumbek town caused some goods to drop in price. Goods like a small bag of salt changed price from 100 SSP to 50 SSP, for example.
Minister Makuet said the bad road was at Barnaam bridge between Rumbek East County and Rumbek town which was partially blown off by flood.
He said they just made small improvement on the bridge in order to allow goods into the state while the total renovation will be carried out by the national government later during the dry season.
He also added most of the residents from Rumbek East and Rumbek North counties were displaced from their houses as a results of flooding in those areas without mentioning figures.
The minister said there was a crisis committee set up by the state authority to look into the flood victims and they will be the ones to report on numbers of households displaced from two counties.
Photo: Bar Naam bridge which connects Lakes state with greater Equatoria, 28 May 2013 (ST)