ARC AND THE SOUTH SUDANSESE ROAD TO POVERTY

By: Ustaz William Deng Cirrillo

Roads Construction is one of the thorns in the flesh of the government of South Sudan. Southern Sudan having been a subregion within the bigger Sudan was so marginalized so that in the Words of Dr. John. Garang, “It never had tarmac roads since creation.”

After Independence, the government of South Sudan wanted to make up for the lost time in roads construction so fast. This desire to construct roads in the new republic led to untold corruption in the road construction Projects. Companies with questionable reputation in roads construction quickly flooded the roads industry of the new Republic. Names like Ayat and ABMC quickly became synonymous with roads construction in the Country.

In this article the author does not seek to delve into financial details of what went wrong. The aim is to cover some pertinent issues to serve as eye opener to the public on the issues of the roads in the Country as we prepare to burrow deep into what went wrong financially in the recent to follow articles.

1. The Genesis of the ARC.
ARC started as ABMC. The company belongs to one Bol Mel, a businessman who sprouted to business significance from nowhere. Benjamin Bol Mel was not known to be doing any businesses before CPA and the formation of the government of Southern Sudan. The ABMC source of huge capital is still a misery to so many South Sudanese. The unchecked activities of the ABCM attracted international wrath which thus culminated to several costly sanctions. This led to change of names to ARC possibly to avoid future sanctions.

2. ARC Monopoly of the Roads Sector.
No one knows how the ARC became the only company constructing the roads in the whole Country. Everything suggests that ARC never underwent normal processes to transparently be awarded the roads projects in the Country. It is equally mind boggling how the Presidential Oil for roads initiative found itself in the arms of the ARC.

Having mentioned that South Sudan has no roads since creation, it is always a question in the lips of everybody how one ARC with very little experience and capacity in roads construction, with no roads equipment will manage to construct roads and airports across the whole Country. Other companies, with better experiences in roads construction, be they local or international, have been pushed out completely of the road industry by Benjamin Bol Mel and his ARC.

3. The Quality of ARC Roads.
Those in Juba are familiar with potholes in almost all the tarmac roads in the city. They are also aware that the ARC roads do not really cover the areas that should benefit the public. They only follow the areas with government presence and especially where the tarmac can easily catch the attention of the President and his close circle. That is why the roads are only seen around Amarat residential areas, Ministries complex or leading to Luri. The other internal roads are said to have been paid for but not bult.
The quality of Bor and Bhar El Ghazal roads is poor as witnessed by how potholes are developing just a few months after construction. Those who have travelled to Bor and Terkekka know for a fact that those roads will not last another two years.

4. Economic value of some road projects.
It is no longer secret that Benjamin Bol Mel with his ARC is involved in roads construction in some villages with no economic activities. Roads are meant to serve in easing movement of goods and people between various places with known, tangible and visible economic activities. Constructing roads where they will not be put to use is not only a misplacement of priorities but a waste of national resources on non- essential projects.

5. The time taken to construct the roads, and the cost involved.
Reports on the Bhar El Ghazal and Bor Roads Construction costs as prepared by the auditor general are available. It is reported that the time frame and the resources meant to complete the Bhar El Ghazal road have long surpassed the quoted amounts of money and time. It is unfortunate that despite the huge amounts of money and time spent on the Bhar El Ghazal road, it has not reached even half the distance it was supposed to cover. The question of quality has been touched in the preceding sections and will be addressed in depth in the later writings based on the data from experts.

Having walked you through the genesis, competence and cost involved in roads construction by ARC, it is inevitable to conclude that ARC operations do not in way consider transparency and quality assurance due to the fact that the Company seems to be working unsupervised. It seems this company gets the contracts any time they want them and operate outside the jurisdiction of the South Sudan road authority. This is a sure way of constructing roads at an inflated cost and with compromised quality.
This means South Sudan is spending huge amounts of oil money on roads that will not last.