Smaller oil revenues slow south Sudan road building

September 7, 2007 (JUBA, Sudan) — Smaller than expected oil revenues for semi-autonomous southern Sudan have delayed efforts to repair roads in the capital Juba, a government official said on Friday.

Cash shortages also mean that renovation of the south’s wider road network, vital to trade and development of the area, may also be delayed, said Daniel Wani, Under Secretary for the south’s Ministry of Transport and Roads.

“The (Juba) roads were meant to be finished by July this year, but now should be the middle of next year if all goes well,” he said.

“(In 2006) we had to carry forward most of the work planned to this year, and it looks like we’re going to carry the same work to next year,” he said.

A north-south peace deal signed in 2005 ended more than 20 years of conflict in Sudan that had left what little infrastructure the south had in tatters.

Under the agreement the south receives 50 percent of profits from oil revenue generated in its area, expected to be around $120 million a month. But figures have dropped as low as $28.8 million in March.

Many of the area’s roads are little more than tracks in the bush, and 50-year-old bridges look unlikely to sustain heavy trucks bringing in vital goods to the landlocked south.

(Reuters)