Uganda closes damaged Gulu-Sudan road

August 31, 2007 (KAMPALA) — The Ugandan Ministry of works has finally closed the impassable Gulu-Pabbo-Atiak-Nimule road, the gateway to the lucrative market in Juba.

The government has now diverted all traffic to South Sudan along the Arua route, which is longer and more costly for transporters and passengers, the daily Monitor reported today.

Samson Bagonza, the Director of Engineering/Engineer-in chief in the Works Ministry, said on Wednesday that torrential rains in the past two weeks have badly eroded the 104 kilometre Gulu-Nimule Road that passes via Adjumani.

“The road is too muddy yet the traffic is heavy. When one vehicle gets stuck, all the rest are blocked,” Bagonza said in an interview moments before announcing the official closure in media adverts.

The closure follows a picture run in Daily Monitor showing a queue of stuck vehicles.

Since last week, hundreds of Sudan-based traders lost perishable food items worth millions of shillings, aboard dozens of vehicles that got stuck between Pabbo and Atiak.

Bagonza said no one should blame the ministry of works over the unfolding travel predicament because the gravel taken to compact the road even gets quickly soaked in the heavy downpour.

“It (marshy road) is an act of God (nature). Blame the weather since there is nothing we can do when it is raining. Unless the downpour stops and it gets drier, we cannot do anything,” he said.

Transport operators have meanwhile hiked the fare from Kampala to Juba from Shs55, 000 to Shs70, 000 to compensate for the additional fuel required to ply the longer route to enter Sudan.

(The Monitor)