South Sudan’s vice president in charge of the service cluster, Hussein Abdelbagi Akol, on Monday visited Akon International Airport which is being constructed in Warrap State’s Gogrial West County to assess damage caused by floods.
The airport which is located in President Salva Kiir’s hometown was inundated, forcing the works to grind to a halt. The construction of Akon International Airport started early in 2023 and officials said it would serve Aweil, Abyei, Wau, Unity State, Ruweng, and Rumbek after completion.
Warrap Information Minister William Wol Mayom said the purpose of Vice President Akol’s visit was to evaluate the damage at the airport occasioned by heavy rainfall and resultant floods which led to the stalling of work.
“The purpose of his coming is mainly to assess Akon International Airport as work has stopped due to flooding and the company halted construction,” he explained. “So, he came purposely to see the area and level of water and indeed he found that the water subsided a little bit and construction can resume.”
Wol said Vice President Akol was received and accompanied to the site by Warrap State Governor Francis Marial Abur.
“Vice President Akol informed the state government that there are international investors that would like to invest in the agriculture sector and that the international airport will benefit the whole Bahr el Ghazal region,” he said. “So, some of the investors help construct different parts of the airport like the terminal, runway, fencing, and others so that they can access their investments.”
Minister Wol admitted that parts of the airport were washed away by heavy rains and floods.
“Some parts of the airport under construction were washed away by rain but it is normal and nothing much was destroyed, so, construction stopped due to crises in the country like lack of money but work will probably resume in March 2025,” he said.
The minister added: “Akon International Airport was designed to international standards because the feasibility study done by an Asian engineering team determined that this swampy area is fine for an airport and there will be no future failures.”
Meanwhile, Gogrial West County Commissioner Victor Wek Koordit said the construction site was not badly damaged by the rains and resultant floods.
“We visited the airport on Monday and the runway is very hard and nothing was destroyed,” he said. “However, there are floodwaters at the edges of the airport and even the murram that was poured was not destroyed. Wunkoc Construction Company will resume work in February and the other companies will follow.”