A group of technicians from a telecommunications company has been affected by poor roads while attempting to go to Ayod in South Sudan to reopen the phone network connection there for the first time since the civil war started in 2013.
The team which was dispatched this week passed via Bor and found that they could not make it to Ayod by road as rains had fallen heavily. The two cars with assessment equipment returned back to Bor on Wednesday after finding that it was not possible for them to reach to the area by road, according to Fangak State Information Minister James Lony Kang.
“This morning I had information that the two vehicles have not reached Ayod because they said there was a rainfall on the way, there was rain on the way and the road was very bad and they could not continue to Ayod,” Lony said, adding that they plan to return by air instead.
There were previously two network towers in Ayod but they were destroyed during bombardment during the war. The state government has agreed with Zain Company on its reinstallation while MTN is reluctant.
Ayod town has no any schools or health centers operating at the moment, according to the official, and there is an influx of large numbers of IDPs and local civilians from all around on a daily basis.