Skip to main content
MALAKAL - 12 Mar 2013

Upper Nile: Infrastructural development deadlines may not be met

South Sudan’s Upper Nile state Ministry of Physical Infrastructure acknowledged yesterday that challenges are afoot for completing road construction and infrastructural development before the rainy season begins.

Elija Liaj Bany, the state Minister of Physical Infrastructure claimed in a statement to Radio Tamazuj that development projects including internal road construction and the modernization of Upper Nile’s river port system will not be completed within the expected timeframe.  He attributed this to the withdrawal of some construction companies and the failure of others to complete their work on time.

One of the roads being worked on is a main road linking the state capital, Malakal, with Renk County on the border with Sudan.  Liaj also stressed to the importance of roads linking Upper Nile with Ethiopia in order to streamline the transportation of goods from Ethiopia.

Upper Nile state’s roads are often inaccessible during rainy season, in part due to its ‘black cotton soil’ which forms deep mud.  As a result, much of the state relies heavily on river transportation or on road transportation during the dry season only.