Magwi County in Eastern Equatoria State has handed over the plan for the community road rehabilitation project to the Acholi leadership, Magwi County Commissioner David Otto Remson has revealed.

In December last year, the communities from Obbo, Pajok, Palwa and Lobone agreed on a fundraiser of about SSP 500 per household for the rehabilitation of Magwi-Obbo–Pajok and Palwa roads, saying the state government had failed to do so.

Speaking to The City Review, Mr Otto said the initiative was still on as they had discussed it with the Acholi leadership in the areas.

According to Otto, the launch of the Centenary in Palotaka Catholic Church had interrupted the planned meeting of the community leadership.

“This month they are going to conduct the meeting to come up with a way forward and also to see how much money has been collected and how much [is] needed for the rehabilitation of the road,” Otto said.

 “The government is going to support the communities in some areas because the road will not only be for the community but also the development of the county,” he added.

He stated that the road will boost trade and provide people with access to medical services on a local level.

Otto said the local government of Magwi County will provide fuel, trucks for carrying stones, food, and some equipment to facilitate the community’s work on the road without any difficulties.

In October 2021, the community of Abara in Iwire Payam voluntarily repaired the road leading to Magwi town to access the market, school, and medical services.

This came after the heavy rains cut off most communities from accessing services in Magwi Town, as most of the roads had become impassable.

The road leading from Magwi to Lobone Payam at the border with Uganda was constructed by the government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in 2015. It is the road that the communities are trying to raise some money for its rehabilitation.

However, in 2018, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) received an €8 million (US$9 million) contribution from the Kingdom of the Netherlands to improve smallholder farmers’ access to markets by rehabilitating and maintaining roads in South Sudan the next four years.

The project, which was dubbed the United Nations’ Partnership for Recovery and Resilience approach, was supposed to enable WFP to improve 250 kilometres of roads. This was to assure year-round access to more than 20 markets for 10,000 smallholder farmers and residents alike. 

In Eastern and Western Equatoria states, Magwi and Yambio counties were supposed to benefit from the project, but since the donation in 2018, no road rehabilitation has been carried out in Magwi County. The area is currently cut off due to poor roads.