Radio Miraya
2847: Miraya Breakfast Show: Nyamlel Bridge Handover - Boosting Connectivity and Growth
"My name is Airela Sewell, tomorrow. "The Niamnal Bridge will officially be handed over "to the government, marking a major milestone "and infrastructure development to northern Baragazale state "and the entire region. "Now this project promises to transform "connectivity and support economic growth "for the communities. "We are joined by honorable professor Simon Mijak, "the minister for roads and bridges. "And also we have his Excellency Timo, "all Canadian ambassador, EU delegation to South Sudan "and William Mochera infrastructure project manager "with UNOBS South Sudan. "Good morning, gentlemen. "Welcome to the studio." - Good morning. - Good morning. - Morning. - Right. And this one will go to the EU representative. Just briefly give us an overview of the European Union Trust Fund for the feeder roads project in northern and western Baragazale. - Indeed, yeah, the project is called the European Union Trust Fund for feeder roads project in northern western Baragazale. And so it's covering the whole, the two states. And the background for this project is the idea is to provide stability, support through our communities in getting access to livelihoods and also to improve the efficiency of food systems. So within this, with the support from our Trust Fund, there has been a construction and rehabilitation of a network of feeder roads and rural infrastructure in areas with agricultural potential. So this has improved connectivity between rural communities and larger markets. And it's been providing access to social services and economic hubs. And it also enhances access to social services and promotes growth and increases household incomes. So actually I've been there and I've seen more than a year ago, actually we were together with the Honourable Minister and we already witnessed how the positive impacts and we had very good feedback from the population coming from it. - Right, so that leads me to my next question. Are the populations enjoying the dividends? Since you've spoken to them, what is the feedback? - Right, so the feedback, like I said, we heard it from the people there that there was something, because this used to be one of these Sudan-led projects. You know, the Nyamled Bridge, where I'm especially talking about where we visited was one of these Make Unity Act Attractive. And then it was a lift and it dilapidated and the bridge was never opened. So the people, particularly there, we're very happy about that. - Right. - But in overall, the whole project, it provides access for over 750,000 people. It's linking our north and our west counties and the bridge and the feeder roads also connect traders and farmers from South Sudan to Sudan. So they can now reach markets. And obviously we have war in Sudan, which is making the issues more difficult, but of course we hope that it will be over. But indeed, you know, but we know that exports actually happening now from South to North. So actually goods are flowing from South Sudan to Sudan. But nevertheless, that markets are now much more accessible, which reduces time and costs for transportation. The fact that the roads are there, that the bridges are being fixed, also provides access to services for people. So they can move about more freely, get to education centers, hospitals, and so forth. And so while it was difficult for, you know, especially the rural communities to have access to these services, it made much more easier. Humanitarian access is important. That's also linked also partly now to the Sudan war, that it has made it much more easier for and cheaper for the humanitarian community to access areas in need. And actually we got some very positive feedback from this from the WFP, you know, of how it had eased their operations. - Right, thank you so much. And as the team will get back to the response from WFP, coming to you know, the completed roads bridge and also the wash facilities are being handed over to the local authority. So just can you give us a picture of the management and sustainability of these facilities? - Thank you. We know that without the maintenance of all kind of infrastructure, they will deteriorate with time. And especially in South Sudan where the terrain is very flat, as well as the elements and the impacts of weather are very much severe. We know that there's ongoing flooding in many locations. We know that in those locations, since there are no enforcement of rules, there is overloading of the vehicles, which also accelerated damage of the roads. Which means that this huge investment that the EU has provided for the infrastructure is likely to be lost quite soon. So having known this, we have taken several steps to ensure that this flooding is not lost quickly. So we have been building the local skills of the local authorities. In addition to providing business opportunity for the opportunities for the local contractors, we included a capacity building component in the feeder road construction project. So that when we are done with the construction, we have the engineers from the local ministries who will be available and ready and well skilled at equipped to be able to maintain the roads beyond the project life. We also have included the road maintenance equipment as one of the components. These equipment are not very big, but they are very suitable for the purposes of the maintaining of these kind of roads. And this will be handed over to the state ministries tomorrow as part of the final handover so that the ministries can be able to also maintain these roads. - Right. - So, but still considering that the likelihood of deterioration would like to call upon the local authorities in these locations to make optimal use of this equipment and the skills already impacted on the engineers that we have trained so that they can keep these assets for longer. - Okay, thank you so much, William. And I would like to throw the same question to the Honourable Minister, the National Ministry. How will you be working with the state ministry on the ground to ensure that this facilities stay long and maintained? - Thank you, Irene, for the opportunity. I'm really glad and honored to be here today. We have been here before. And I'm also happy to have my best friend, his excellency, the ambassador and William from Europe. For the great achievement, we have achieved today for our people to get connected because the role of the ministry is to facilitate connectivity and movement of people and the facilitation of our good and services. Yes, we have the issues abroad, taking back as to back to the history of South Sudan. We've never had good roads since creation, but roads were the responsibilities of communities. And that's why you have the boundaries of today where community boundaries and then transform into a demonstrative. For the issues of maintenance, this is a big task for the ministry. We are now trying our best to inculcate the sense of ownership and responsibility. That's mean, the mobilization of communities, especially the young one, to take over. And we are working on the legal framework where you will make some choice for the communities for road maintenance. Right, and our honourable minister, just still with you. I mean, learning from the impact of this project. What is a plan on expanding on our similar infrastructure developments in other areas? Yes, I must also do justice for European Union and UNOP for keeping their commitment, because feed the road projects was initiated before the independence of South Sudan. And then there were many partners who were contributing, but some of them have moved to other priorities like health and education and humanitarian. And I thank the European Union for keeping it wet. And not only for this project, as his excellency just mentioned, the breach of a jeep of koyuk breach is tantal and big testimony. All right, thank you so much. Now, coming to his excellency, the ambassador, what programmes are the EU and South Sudan involved in or considering for the promotion of agriculture, for the food security and trade? Right, so the European Union has this multi-annual programme, and a support programme to South Sudan, which is the tune of more than 200 million euro. And there's one priority area called Green and Resilient Economy, and agriculture is the main debug of that. And 40% of our support actually go to agriculture. So we are actively engaged in initiatives on food security, trade, remote and commercial agriculture with a view of the sustainable peace and stability. And there's, for example, an agricultural and food security programmes, which focus on enhancing agriculture productivity, the support farmers, they improve food systems. One example of this is the Anayam Lelbridge, actually, which is supposed to and will, actually. And we know that it's already doing that, having that effect of boosting connections to the markets for farmers and providing also food availability and security. A follow-up programme will provide further support to boosting agriculture production and marketing to produce. And this is something that we're also doing here, establishing connections to farmers to the markets. It's something that we're doing also here close to Juba, together with the ITC. We are supporting farmers nearby to bring their producers to the markets here in town. We have trade and economic development, which also support agriculture. We are supporting the Nimule one-stop border post in order to have a boosted boosting trade. That's something that is also linked to the importance of food security and other infrastructure projects, like the development of transport corridors and markets to improve economic opportunities and facilitate movement of goods. So this is not only important in this own right, in order to provide, to make South Sudan more food secure and provide livelihoods. But all of this also contribute to peace and stability. That's right. When people have access to alternative livelihoods, they don't need to resort to conflict. And then also, it builds up when you build up the economy, you build up the stability of areas. That's true. So that's something we're doing. Thank you so much, Ambassador. And because of time very quickly, Mr. William, what message do you have for the people of our wheel west ahead of the event tomorrow? Yeah. Firstly, I would like to thank the people, the population, the authorities in northern Baragazal. I will west, I will north, and in another area for the cooperation they have given us during the implementation without which we could not have completed this work at this stage. All right. I also would like to make sure that I remind them that they should take care of the infrastructure that has been provided by the EU. And I am asking them to come out in large numbers to join us in the celebration, to meet the guests who are coming with us, including the ambassadors from the EU, the ministers, and other guests invited. We look forward to seeing you there to celebrate with us a 10-30 a.m. tomorrow, Thursday, 14 November. OK, tomorrow it is. Thank you so much, William. And finally, honorable Minister Simon. What is your last remark in just 30 seconds, if you can? Yeah, my remark is that we are very happy with the cooperation with European Union. And we are targeting other areas in the next future. And this is one of the great contributions to our farmers and consumers. And I want to advise my people that they take it in a responsible way, which can encourage us for the next. It's not a humanitarian. It is a bilateral arrangements between the government of South Sudan and the European Union. We are great with that. And I'm saying this bridge will lead us to the European Union through Sudan and Libya. All right. Monquin Belarabi, 30 seconds. [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] Oh, well, thank you. I just can't echo that we have been a good partnership. And it's good to see something tangible happening on the ground, and also see the effects that it's having. Like I mentioned, we had the feedback already the last time around when we were in a bit more than a year. I go in a whale and yum-lel. So it's really heartwarming to see this. And I'll just echo what my friends here said about the importance of also maintaining this so that won't get dilapidated. And finally, just to invite you know, to echo William and also to hope that people will come and enjoy your celebration so that we are open in the yum-lel bridge. Right. [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] William, [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] Honorable Professor Simon [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] Thank you so much for your time.