A Chinese model of highway

A civil society leader has expressed fears about the road construction deal with China.

Last month, South Sudan government and a Chinese company signed an agreement for the construction and upgrading of major national and interstate highways.

According to the deal, Shangdong High-Speed will construct major highways in exchange for crude oil.

The roads will connect the three regions to the national capital, Juba.

However, the executive director of the Community Empowerment for Progress Organization, Edmund Yakani, says the deal should be scrutinized.

He argues that such deals are used to extract minerals without the knowledge of the authorities.

Yesterday, President Salva Kiir, in his speech during the opening of the TNLA, said he has established a desk at his office to overlook the road construction works.

“My appeal to our  parliament is that this project should be supervised properly because we have seen similar in other African countries where Chinese companies end up looting natural resource in the name of road construction. So we want to ensure that if there is a road construction going on in South Sudan through a Chinese company there is proper monitoring and evaluation.”

But a member of parliament, Dusman Joyce  who represents Kajo-keji in the national parliament suggests that this work should be supervised by an independent institution.