Efforts to Rehabilitate the Worn out Highways

Al-Sammani Awadallah

The Ministry of Physical Development, Roads and Bridges, through its National Corporation of Roads and Bridges, has started rehabilitation and maintenance of the national highways to facilitate traffic movement during the upcoming rainy season.

Minister of Physical Development, Roads and Bridges Abdalla Yahya has directed completion of maintenance work over Khartoum-Bara Road soonest to facilitate traffic movement during the coming rainy season.

This came when the minister inspected the progress of maintenance work for Khartoum- Bara Road, accompanied by the Director of Roads and Bridges National Authority and other senior officials besides representatives of companies implementing the maintenance work.

Director of Roads and Bridges National Authority Engineer Gafaar Hassan Adam has affirmed that great efforts are being made to boost the efficiency of the national roads, especially Khartoum-Bara Road which contributes to the export of Sudanese products to the world markets.

Engineer Al-Hadi Hussein, Deputy Director of Traffic Safety Directorate, on his part, has said they endeavor to realize traffic safety over the national roads through the issuance of necessary legislation.

The Minister launched inspection tours within the last 70 days since his assuming his position to the national highways accompanied by the Director of Road and Bridges National Authority Gaafar Hassan Adam to see on the ground the process of rehabilitation and maintenance of the national highways to achieve the slogan if (Zero Bumpy Roads which aims at dealing with the pitfalls and rehabilitating the roads that need maintenance, besides determining the highways which need complete rehabilitation through bidding and finding out the requires funding.

El-Obied/Al-Khuwai/Al-Nuhud national highway is considered one of the most highways that were subject to damage due to technical reasons and because this road in particular was exposed to overload pressure as it links eight states besides linking Sudan with several African countries.

Losses in Animal Wealth

The cracks in the road, especially Al-Nuhud/Al-Khuwai sector caused several traffic accidents especially the trucks loaded with livestock a matter that leads to livestock death.

The citizens of West Kordofan State, especially Dar Hamar areas, claimed that they lost a lot of livestock resulted of the bumpy road and pitfalls a matter that leads to the trucks’ rollover.

They called for urgent maintenance and rehabilitation of that highway to preserve their lives and animal wealth.

Roads and Bridges National Authority – Kordofan Sector- .. Continuous Efforts

Roads and Bridges National Authority – Kordofan Sector – led by Eng. Asim Ali is exerting all possible efforts to repair the cracks in the road to make it safe till the time of the planned complete rehabilitation which is pending the approval of the funding.

According to Eng. Asim started the regular maintenance by covering the pitfalls with the Asphalt mixture to ease the movement of the vehicles.

He affirmed that Al-Obeid/Al-Khuwai/Al-Nuhud with a length of 250 kilometers is in bad need of rehabilitation, adding that his engineering team is now working in temporary maintenance, pointing out that they started their work in Kilo 65 west of El-Obied.

Zero Pitfalls and Bumpy Roads

Despite the scarcity of funds and materials, still the Director of Roads and Bridges National Authority, Eng. Consultant Gaafar Hassan Adam affirms that they managed to overcome the obstacles represented by the lack of fuel which they buy from the black market to complete their work, affirming that they are giving more concern to Al-Obeid/Al-Khuwai/Al-Nuhud considering that it is one of the highways which was displayed in Paris Conference to be forwarded to the World Bank for funding its rehabilitation.

Adam subject the cracks of that highway to its wrong construction as it was constructed with cold asphalt layers besides the overloading, pointing out that it was designed for a maximum of 56 tonnes of load but a load of some trucks exceeds 100 tonnes, a matter that will have its negative impact on the road, affirming that the Authority is doing its best to control the loads through imposing fines against the violators.

He pledged to find the required funding to Al-Obeid/Al-Khuwai/Al-Nuhud, adding that the maintenance machinery will remain there till they complete the rehabilitation process.

The Road towards Development:

Minister of Physical Planning. Roads and Bridges, Abdallah Yahya Ahmed affirmed that roads are the foundations of development in Sudan, adding that since he assumed his position he was looking here and there for funding, pointing out to his recent visits to Turkey and Saudi Arabia for this purpose, enumerating the importance of the road as its links Sudan with the neighboring countries, expressing desire to reach Zero pitfalls and bumpy roads.

He called for cooperation with the Authority to enable it to accomplish the maintenance and rehabilitation process, lauding the great role of the Roads and Bridges National Authority engineers in the process.

He disclosed that he is one of those affected by the cracks of Al-Obeid/Al-Khuwai/Al-Nuhud highway as the road claimed the lives of a number of his family, pledging to exert all possible efforts to rehabilitate it.