South Sudan Transport Minister Madut Biar Yel on Friday gave representatives from the Lamu Port- South Sudan-Ethiopia Transport (LAPSSET) Corridor Program a tour of the newly constructed Freedom Bridge in Juba.
The bridge was constructed by and using Japanese using funds and was commissioned last year by President Salva Kiir Mayardit in the presence of Kenya’s Raila Odinga among other dignitaries.
Speaking to journalists during the tour, Minister Biar said the Freedom Bridge now provides connectivity to the three LAPSSET countries.
“We visited this bridge just to show to our colleagues in LAPSSET that this is one of the few bridges that connects South Sudan with Ethiopia, Kenya, and Uganda,” he said. “This is the main link of South Sudan to LAPSSET member countries. We are also going to build more bridges along the River Nile here in Juba, Mangalla, Bor, and Malakal that will also connect Ethiopia to the northern parts of South Sudan.”
For his part, Stephen Ikua, the Director General of the LAPSSET Corridor Development Authority in Kenya, hailed the Government of South Sudan for the milestone.
“I want to appreciate the Government of South Sudan for the work they have done because the three LAPSSET partner states were just coming to assess how ready we are to offtake this project that the three governments are committed to doing,” he said. “We have been sitting over there in Nairobi and thinking that South Sudan has not done anything yet here we are and we have seen the (new) bridge. This is what we call connectivity.”
“We are quite excited to see that even South Sudan is on track and when we get back to Nairobi, we should be able to report that all of us are committed because this meeting is to demonstrate commitment,” Ikua added.
The ongoing third LAPSSET ministerial meeting kicked off in Juba on Tuesday to assess the readiness of the LAPPSET countries in terms of road connectivity.
The team that visited the bridge were South Sudan Transport Minister Madut Biar, Abera Endeshaw, senior advisor to the Ministry of Water and Energy in Ethiopia, Stephen Ikua, Director General LAPSSET Corridor Development Authority in Kenya, Stephen karingi, Director of Regional Integration and Trade Division United Nations Commission for Africa among others.