Heavy rains in Western Bahr el Ghazal state on Wednesday washed off the Sofo Bridge that connects Raja County to Wau County.
Raja County commissioner Andison Arkangelo Musa, told Radio Tamazuj that the county is completely disconnected from Wau and may suffer a lack of goods, including medicines.
“This road means a lot to the community in Raja, security, and economically between Wau and Raja. We are a farming community that gets market in Wau, and commodities from Wau only reach Raja through this road,” he said. “We need this bridge to be constructed concretely to facilitate the movement of people and business along Wau -Raja.”
The commissioner called on the state and national governments to intervene urgently and construct the bridge to allow the movement of goods and people.
Arkangelo noted the bridge was recently repaired by the United Nations Mission in South Sudan.
Meanwhile, a civil activist of the Community Empowerment for Progres Organisation (CEPO), Stephen Robo Musa, called for urgent intervention from the national government.
“This is a catastrophic incident caused by a natural disaster, and it has a huge impact on the people in Raja. Sofo bridge is the only bridge that links Raja County headquarters with Wau town, so most of the services are found in Wau, including medical, educational, and other basic emergency commodities,” said Robo. “Within these weeks, people are going to suffer. People who might be in emergency need of medical services will not be able to get the medicines.”
Meanwhile, Robo complained that the construction of the Raja-Wau road project contracted to the Eyat Construction company has stalled since March.
“This road, the contract project was given to Eyat company, but we don’t know what happened. Eyat started work, but it stopped in Bessilia without proceeding,” Robo complained.