Jonglei: Pochala County hires planes to deliver food

November 04, 2012 (JUBA) – Without a road linking it to neighbouring areas, residents of Pochala County, in eastern Jonglei State, hire small planes from Juba to deliver goods to the isolated county, a local leader told Sudan Tribune.

Pochala County Commissioner Joseph Okello Wello said in an email to Sudan Tribune that a company has been contracted to construct road since 2010 but is yet to make any meaningful progress.

“It is two years since this company started work on the road between Akobo (north of Pochala) but nothing materialized,” Okello said.

Asked why the road building is stranded, Commissioner Okello blamed a lack of fuel, which also needs means to deliver to the county.

Jonglei State has a notoriously bad road network, even for the standards of South Sudan, and all villages are not easily accessible during the rainy season from the provincial capital Bor.

Only the road connecting Bor to South Sudan’s capital Juba road works all-year around and pledges by the Jonglei State government that road constructing is a priority in recent years has not materialised into action.

Since taking office in December 2007, Governor Kuol Manyang Juuk maintained that constructing roads linking counties top his agenda but work is yet to commence partly due to instability and insufficient funding.

Pochala and Pibor counties – both lying east of Jonglei state’s capital Bor, have no access to any major towns in South Sudan or neighbouring Ethiopia due to lack of road connection.

A local trader Omot Kuo Oman in Pochala told a UN Radio, Miraya FM in February, that a 500ml bottle of soda is sold at 12 South Sudanese Pounds compared to 5 South Sudanese pounds in Bor.

(ST)