Japanese government to resume construction of Juba’s Nile Freedom bridge

JUBA – The Japanese government said in a statement on Thursday that it will continue the construction of the capital Juba’s Freedom Bridge which as halted earlier this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The construction is being managed and funded by the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

The construction of the bridge started in 2013. Unfortunately the outbreak of conflict later that same year prevented its progress and after resumption of work in 2015, it had to stop again for the second time due to the July 2016 fighting in Juba that led to the evacuation of all JICA’s staff from the country.

With improvement in the security situation, Japanese engineers came back to Juba in mid-2018 and on 18th March 2019, the government of Japan approved additional $28M for the completion of the bridge construction work.

It later on stopped due to the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic which has delayed several developmental projects around the world.

In a statement on Thursday, the Japanese embassy in Juba reaffirmed its commitment to the construction of the Freedom Bridge and the main River Port in Juba.

The country’s new ambassador to South Sudan, Naohiro Tsutsumi visited the project sites this week “to assess the level of work done.”

“He expects the construction work on the two sites to resume soon, including on the water plan project,” the embassy said in the statement seen by Sudans Post.