Kiir orders for completion of Luri Bridge

President Salva Kiir has directed the Ministry of Roads and Bridges and the company constructing the Luri Bridge to double their efforts and complete the work on time.

Kiir made the statement upon his visit to the site to witness the ongoing construction of the Bridge and repair of the roads along Juba-Mundri road on Saturday.

In a statement to the media during the visit, Minister of Roads and Bridges Simon Mijok Mijak revealed the president had directed them to finish the construction which began in February 2021.

“President Salva Kiir to complete this bridge…[it] has taken the lives of our dear ones for the last 10 years,” Mijak revealed.

According to Mijak, the construction is in the last phase and it will end by March next year.

He said the ministry was also mulling the construction of Juba, Mundri-Yambio road.

“The Ministry of Roads and Bridges is working on the plans to begin the construction of Juba, Mundri-Yambio road up to Wau, and the team is now in Yambio, assessing the beginning of the work very soon,” Mijak revealed.

The bridge collapsed in 2012 and has claimed several lives whenever it rains.

In 2017 and 2019, over 20 people died in Luri River when the vehicle they were travelling in slipped off the bridge into the river.

The most shocking incident happened in 2019 when the overflowing river dragged a land cruiser into the water killing up to nine people among them a mother and her four children.

The Luri River bridge lies on a road connecting Juba to Western Equatoria and beyond into Bahr el Ghazal State.

In 2019, the Transitional National Legislative Assembly allocated SSP86 million for the construction of the deadly bridge.

In the same year, the fund was endorsed as part of the fiscal year budget allocated to the Ministry of Roads and Bridges. However, members of the public have always criticised the government for its reluctance to repair the bridge that has claimed several lives.