Africa-Press – South-Sudan. Residents of Marama village in Panyimur Sub County, Pakwach district have expressed their concern over the deplorable state of roads network in their area.
The Residents explained that they were counting losses in transporting their merchandise due to exorbitant transport fares. The most affected was the seven (7)kilometersstretch that connected Marama trading center to Alwi Sub County that has been in the same poor state for more than two years without any repair.
The road wasruined by the floods, especially during rainy season that made it almost impassable. The dilapidated road work under the administration of Pakwach district local government had cut off Kavutu Rwoth Bridge bordering Alwi and Panyimur sub-county with the community members claiming that the poor road network in the area had already claimed lives of three people and scores of injuries. They said that the produce trucks and boda boda riders were forced to load half of their capacity so that they could maneuver through the rough roads.
Ms. Mary Akullo, a resident of Alwi and agricultural produce dealer stressed that most of the customers have shunned the nearby markets forcing produce dealers to incur higher transportation costs“People in the area are struggling to reach health facilities and we spend time carrying our farm produce on the head and almost all the boda boda cyclists are fearing to risk, we want government to intervene”, Akullo said. The sub county chairman for Panyimur Mr. Justine Omirambe said the sub county was aware of the worrying conditions of the road. He insisted that the situation has drastically affected the revenue base of Panyimur that predominantly depended on transportation of
fish products and other form of inter-trade. He said that the council of Panyimur had resolved to dialogue with Pakwach district local government to consider expediting work on the road. “We have taken photos and attached to our resolutions and forwarded to the authorities of Pakwach district local government to earmark special fund for the work on this road. With increased rainfall, the state is getting worse each day that passes by”, Omirambe told West Web. The road Act gave authority to district administration to repair and maintain most of the districts and other dirty roads in which it was declared to be the responsibility of the government. However, Mr. Robert Omito Steen, the Pakwach district chairman expressed fear over the maintenance and repair of the bridge which needed huge sum of money that the district was unable to afford.But called for patience as they continued to lobby for funds from their partners and to engagethe national government through prioritization of funds. “Maintaining the road and bridge is too expensive and may take Pakwach district local government up to five years, my humble appeal is let the affected community abide with us as we engage government for a long-term solution”, Omito said.
Mr. Avola Ocakacon, the Pakwach district Engineer narrated that many of the roads had been affected by vagaries of weather and budget cut from the central government. He urged the sub county leaders to allocate special budget to fuel graders that the district is ready to offer they waited for funds from central government.
