Building the country’s first arched steel bridge over the Nile River through South Sudan. —-
The construction of the Nile Bridge project in Juba, South Sudan, which has been underway since 2012, has reached completion. JICA President Akihiko Tanaka also came from Japan on his first overseas trip since assuming office, and an opening ceremony was held on May 19. President Kiir, who attended the ceremony, said, “This bridge will be a lasting proof of the true friendship between South Sudan and Japan. I thank the people and government of Japan for this great gift.
The bridge, which was completed after three interruptions due to repeated conflicts and the Corona disaster, is called the “Freedom Bridge” by the local people as a symbol of their hopes for peace, freedom, and a bright future for their country.
The completed Freedom Bridge. With the flags of Japan and South Sudan.
President Kiir (center) at the opening ceremony.
President Tanaka celebrates the opening of the bridge with President Kiir and First Vice President Mashaal
Facilitation of logistics and economic development through the creation of new bridges
We are relieved that the project is finally complete and truly happy that we were able to make a contribution to the people of South Sudan. I would like to thank the many South Sudanese workers who worked so patiently with us on the construction.”
Norio Umeda of Engineering Consultants (Kensetsu Giken International), who has overseen the site as resident supervisor since the project’s inception.
It is very significant that many people from both Japan and South Sudan, including consultants, contractors, local field staff, and government officials, worked as a team to overcome many difficulties and accomplish such a large project, and that this bridge will contribute to the improvement of people’s lives and the economy. It is very meaningful for both sides to have achieved such a big project overcoming many difficulties. Fuyuki Sagara, Director of JICA’s South Sudan Office, also emphasized. The bridge construction project was funded by a grant from the Japanese government, and JICA was in charge of supervising its implementation.
The path taken by the world’s newest country, South Sudan, which seceded from Sudan in 2011, has been one of turmoil and hardship. After half a century of civil war, the longest in Africa, more than 2 million people have been killed, and the country’s more than 60 ethnic groups have not reconciled easily after independence, with frequent armed clashes and more than 3.7 million refugees and internally displaced persons. Despite poverty, inadequate education, and many other challenges, the country has begun to build a new nation, and one of the projects to commemorate its independence was the construction of the Freedom Bridge, which was intended to express the country’s hopes for the future.
As a landlocked country, South Sudan has a large marshland in the center of the country, and logistics has never been easy. In addition, before independence, there was a long period of civil war, which prevented the development of transportation infrastructure. The only bridge over the Nile in the capital city of Juba, the Juba Bridge, is a temporary bridge built 50 years ago, and it has been damaged frequently. Nevertheless, the only way to transport goods from the neighboring countries of Uganda and Kenya to the capital, Juba, via the international trunk road, was to cross the Nile River via the existing bridge. This international trunk road connects Juba City to Kampala, the capital of Uganda, Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, and the port of Mombasa in Kenya, and can be considered a lifeline for transporting goods for reconstruction. With traffic congestion becoming more serious and the need to consider urban planning in light of future population growth, JICA helped create a road plan to improve the road network and build new bridges. In 2012, a bridge construction project was launched in response to local hopes that the plan would facilitate international logistics and lead to the country’s reconstruction and economic development. The name “Freedom Bridge” was chosen by the people of South Sudan, who have achieved their long-awaited independence, to express their hopes for freedom and peace.
South Sudan and neighboring countries
In the capital city of Juba, traffic jams of cars and motorcycles are the norm.
Construction began in 2013. Large heavy machinery and materials were brought in one after another.
Thus began the construction of the 560-meter-long bridge. It was the first arched steel bridge in Japan to span the Nile River, and “as a civil engineer, I was fired with a sense of mission,” says Umeda enthusiastically. Construction began in 2013, and the bridge was originally scheduled to open in 2017, but construction had to be halted three times along the way. Two of the three interruptions were due to armed clashes between ethnic groups fighting for power, and Japanese staff were forced to leave the country for over a year the first time and for more than two and a half years the second time, but “during that time, we kept in daily contact with the local South Sudanese staff by e-mail and phone to maintain the site,” says Umeda, During that time, we kept in touch with the local South Sudanese staff by e-mail and phone every day to preserve the site and to keep in touch with the client,” says Umeda. Both the Japanese and South Sudanese sides were united in their desire to reopen the site as soon as possible; after the second round of clashes were settled by a peace agreement in 2018, the half-finished construction work resumed in 2019. The following year, however, they were again forced to flee the country. This was the third interruption due to the Corona disaster. Nearly a year later, the project was able to resume, and in May 2022, construction was finally completed.
Records of the construction period from the start of construction to completion.
View of the assembly of the girders of the arch section. At its peak, the on-site workforce numbered nearly 200 people.
From Bridge Building to People Building. Japan’s Contribution to South Sudan
Japanese consultants and contractors worked with up to 200 South Sudanese workers to transfer technology related to bridge construction. Umeda says that he felt a positive response to the efforts made not only in terms of technology, but also in human resource training in discipline and safety.
Dainippon Land Corporation, the contractor, did an excellent job of managing labor and safety. Every morning morning meeting, radio calisthenics, and tool box meeting for each team, they explained the progress of the construction and monthly goals, and raised everyone’s work motivation and morale while maintaining discipline. The daily tidying habits of the Japanese steeplejacks were also naturally passed on to the local workers, and not only the workers but even the drivers began to clean up voluntarily, which kept the site always clean.
Mr. Umeda says that the people of South Sudan were pleasant to work with because of their straightforward attitude toward learning and diligent work.
The majority of civil engineering work is done on underground structures, which are hidden from view after completion. In this case, the bridge work in the river was the most prominent example of such work, and we felt a deep sense of relief when we placed the first concrete piers in the bedrock 7 meters below the surface of the water. The South Sudanese workers were willing to do hard work, and they all worked very hard, so I think they must have experienced the same sense of accomplishment. I believe that this is the true appeal of civil engineering work overseas, where people of different nationalities work together to achieve a goal. There are no other large-scale construction projects like this in South Sudan, but I hope that the experience and skills gained here will be utilized for future nation-building.
The pier foundation is being excavated to be embedded in hard rock within a steel pipe sheet pile 7 m below the water surface.
Mr. Umeda (center) also focused on educating local youth. He invited students from the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Juba to the site for field training and gave them lectures. Mr. Umeda was accompanied by Mr. Kiyoshi Kusaka (right), the general manager of Dainippon Engineering & Construction, who worked closely with him on the project.
At the opening ceremony, President Kiir spoke emphatically. I hope the people of South Sudan will work hard to maintain peace in our country. The time it took to complete the bridge is living proof of how our war has delayed development. By maintaining peace, we can focus on service delivery and further development projects. Let us show our appreciation to our Japanese friends by taking care of the bridge. Let’s drive safely when passing through. This bridge is a new lifeline and a new gateway to the region.
Director Sagara also said that the Freedom Bridge is also a symbol of peace because it was successfully completed after overcoming various difficulties such as conflicts and the Corona disaster, and stability was restored to Juba.
The people of South Sudan are diverse in their values, culture, and lifestyles, but they also need values that can be shared by all of them as a nation. I hope that this bridge will be loved and utilized by the people of South Sudan for a long time as a base to pursue further peace and freedom together.
© Source JICA
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