December 18th 2019 (Nyamilepedia) – South Sudan government is in talk with a British company to possibly provide spare parts and directives to fix the bridge which was constructed in 1972.
Recently, the government banned heavy trucks carrying aggregate and sand from crossing over the bridge, saying it was nearing collapse.
Speaking to Nyamilepedia on Wednesday, a government official from the Ministry of Roads and Bridges said South Sudan’s National Roads Authority (NRA) was in talk with a UK firm which provided elements of the bridge 47 years ago.
“We are in talk with the Moby Construction Company which supplied the elements used in construction of the bridge in 1972 and soon the bridge will be repaired when they response to us with the necessary equipment,” the government official who declined to be named said from Juba this afternoon.
“The NRA is spearheading the process.”
The bridge is composed of two adjacent 252 meter spans over the White Nile on the Juba-Nimule Road, and provides the only access over to the other side of the river.
It was built in 1972, during the regime of General Gaafar Al-Nimeiry, from two World War II-era bridges. It was re-opened in January 2012 after major repair works following an accident in 2010 which left one lane of the bridge unusable for heavy vehicles.
South Sudan is now building a new bridge known as the Freedom Bridge which is expected to be completed in 2021.
