25 August 2014 - Seeking to assist in repairing roads in and to Warrap State, UNMISS Chinese Engineers recently completed repairs on an eight-kilometre road that leads to the only murram quarry in the state.

Road engineers and drivers from both Warrap and Western Bahr El-Ghazal states described the road as the “most important road” among all roads in the state, as it leads to the site from which they collect material for road works and development of other infrastructure.

“Although this road is also being used by UNMISS, we benefit the most,” said Majak Wol, one of many drivers that fetches murram from the site. “It will now be very easy for us. I can make up to five trips a day.”

Another driver, James Mabior Deng, said having the road in a bad condition made it difficult for him and his family to comfortably survive last year because it slowed down work and affected his income.

“The road was in a completely poor shape,” he said. “Now with this road being passable, I can afford to take care of my family and attend to other people who need murrum to carry on construction works.”

According to the Chinese Engineering Contingent’s Deputy Commander Captain Wei Peng said it took almost a month to rehabilitate the road due to heavy rains.

“It was a very dangerous piece of road, which made it difficult for vehicles to use because of several potholes and stagnant water,” he said.

Captain Wei made a passionate appeal to the road users to drive less than 50 kilometres an hour for safety reasons.

“There are cows and pedestrians who also use the road,” he said. “Drivers must take care of themselves because we have setup some bumps to lower over speeding.”