Ministry of finance to request funds for high-way linking to Ethiopia

The national minister of finance and planning said on Wednesday he will request the council of ministers to approve funds for the construction of Paloch-Mathiang-Maiwut-Pagak high-way connecting to Western Ethiopia.

“In regard to the road to Western Ethiopia, we are at the final stage of completing the process and the amount is above 700 million funded by Ethiopian government, the process has already been initiated and we are waiting to table it at the council of ministers as soon as possible,” Bak Barnaba Chol, the minister of finance told journalists during the press conference in Juba.

 He disclosed the loan for the road construction has already been secured from the Ethiopia government, adding that the South Sudan government is currently in negotiation with their Ethiopian counterparts.

“That road has been in progress, so far I think we are at asphalt level,” Chol said.

In May 2023, Dier Tong Ngor, the former minister of finance signed agreement with his Ethiopia counterpart, Eyob Tekalign, the Ethiopia state minister of finance for the construction of the road connecting Ethiopia with North Eastern Upper Nile.

During the signing ceremony, President Salva Kiir said the highway project would strengthen economic ties as well as enhancing the free movement of the people and goods across the border with Ethiopia.