Road repairs begin in Unity state as floods recede

November 9, 2013 (BENTIU) – Authorities have begun to repair 45 kilometres of roads in Bentiu the capital of Unity state ahead of an expected visit by Salva Kiir, the president of South Sudan.

For the last nine months Unity state has been paralysed by heavy rains which caused widespread flooding and have seriously damaged the mainly un-mettled roads. The floods have severely restricted the movement of people from Unity state’s counties to the state capital, Bentiu.

Bentiu, which has a population of nearly 100,000 of people, has been hit by heavy floods since June making most roads impassable. Now the floods are starting to recede the extent of the damage and number of potholes is becoming apparent.

Turuk Riek, the director of physical planning and surveying in the Unity state ministry of physical infrastructure urban development, says road repairs in Bentiu town are a “priority” pointing out that if the roads are not passable the government is unable to deliver services to areas outside the state capital.

Riek said that road building will also help reduce the risk of flooding as drainage systems, such as bridges and dykes, will be put in place at the same time.

Simon Diu Liat, an engineer working on the road maintenance in Bentiu said the work will take five days.

“We are making only reshaping and filling in some pot holes with selective materials in order to level the roads to the right surface which we will also compact the surface. Afterwards the government of the state has the plan to rehabilitate the road whereby heavy rehabilitation compaction shall take place”, added Liat.

Simon Gatngueng, a resident from Leer county who has been cut off from Bentiu since June, said road rehabilitation will help counties to access to the city centre in order to boost business in the village and neighbouring states.

Peter Koang Nyith, a resident from Bentiu town, says it has been a longtime since roads have been in a good condition. He said the road clearing will help citizens access health centres and other services they have been cut off from for many months.

“It has been long time without roads it took us 9-10 months and everyone here in these communities has suffered a lot because of road inaccessibility. Now we hope everything will improve in terms of transportation and our children who suffer from sickness will immediately reach [a] health centre for treatment” said Nyith.

Unity state authorities says they plan to rehabilitate two of its main roads running from Bentiu to oil fields in northern counties by the Chinese-owned Greater Pioneer Operating Company.

Roads running south from the state capital are under the construction by the Sudd Petroleum Operating Company (SPOC) that runs Tharjath oil field, according to the government.

(ST)