The Transitional National Legislative Assembly (TNLA) on Monday raised concern over the poor state of the Juba International Airport (JIA).
They said the airport faced many challenges including the lack of proper terminals, a flooded runway and insecurity because of the unrestricted movement of vehicles.
The concerns followed the deliberation on the South Sudan Civil Aviation Act, 2012 (Amendment) Bill 2024, when the MPs urged Transport Minister Madut Biar Yel to fix JIA to meet the modern international standards.
First Deputy Speaker Nathaniel Perino Oyet, who is also the deputy chairperson of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO), said JIA’s runway gets flooded whenever it rains and becomes hard for planes to land.
“My question to the minister is about the runway that floods when it rains. Planes are unable to land, and I experienced that when one day we hovered over Juba for almost three hours, because it was raining and the runway had flooded,” Oyet said.
“I don’t know why it is difficult for the runway to be fixed,” he asked, adding that the JIA state had become a security threat.
The lawmaker noted that heaps of garbage also drained into the runway whenever it rained.
The House also raised the issue of the incomplete terminals whose construction started before the country got into conflict.
Oyet said that whenever leaders travelled out of South Sudan, they interacted with ‘real modern terminals’.
The SPLM member for Ayod County of Jonglei State, Mary Nyawulang, expressed concern about people being allowed to drive into the runway. She noted that when receiving dead bodies, people were even allowed to go up to the runway, emphasizing that this must be regulated.
“I am not quoting any articles in the bill, but I am worried about the security of the airport where any vehicle is allowed entry, Nyawulang said.
“When receiving dead bodies, people go inside in their thousands. Does it help us in terms of security? Is there no way to regulate this?” she posed
Another SPLM member, Nyayang Johnson Lok Riek, described JIA as a shop that opens at 6am and closes at 7pm.
“Madam Speaker we need to tell the minister that for our airport to be international, it must change. JIA is actually local as it opens at 6am and closes at 7pm like a shop,” Nyayang said.
Transport Minister Madut Biar Yel said the government was doing its best to fix some of the issues, including the construction of gates to control the movement of vehicles into the runway.
He said his ministry had temporarily worked on the airport drainage system to avoid flooding.