How Juba-Rumbek Highway Fiasco Exposes Mess in Public Procurement in South Sudan

By Daniel Athior’o Atem, Juba, South Sudan

Monday, June 08, 2020 (PW) — After gaining independence in July 2011, South Sudan government and development partners embarked on infrastructure development projects to bring about sustainable peace and development.

Decades of war ravaged the country’s trade routes, schools, and health centers. Nearly all government efforts and finances were directed to defending the country culminating into signing of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement.

Various road construction projects have been initiated to open up different parts of the country to trade and investment as per the SPLM development plans. But a case in point is the $700 million for 400 kilometers Juba – Wau highway linking South Sudan’s capital to the Bahr el Ghazal region.

In 2019, a Chinese company -Shandong High-speed group of companies was awarded the contract to work on the project. The project is fully funded by Government of South Sudan. 

However, the recent wash away and partial destruction of Juba-Rumbek highway raises a lot of questions in regard to public procurement principles in South Sudan. Many have gone on to ask- did government call for bids? Was there thorough vetting of the contractor (Shandong High-speed group of companies)? Was the contractor single source?

And if yes then is the project valuefor the money? Is there ongoing inspection of the ongoing work by an independent engineer or is government just waiting for the highway to be finished? What’s the ministry concern roles in the process? how did presidency become supervisors of the infrastructure work when there’s ministry for the Road and bridges? 

Exchanging oil for the highway construction was also not seen as a fair deal in public opinion. Apparently, Shandong extracts 30,000 barrels of crude oil per day to cover the cost of the highway project. Although it is not a bad idea to use oil for development, the move is not transparent in any way. Oil is a very precious and tempting commodity that when used as a medium of payment to contractors may result into shoddy work. 

In fact, the 2019 UN report warned that there is continued lack of transparency in the oil sector. The Ministry of Petroleum has not ended the practice of pre-sale financing arrangements for South Sudanese oil, despite the recommendations of the International Monetary Fund. The country continues to strike oil pre-sale financing arrangements with little or none-transparency.

According to the Minister of Roads, a kilometer costs $1.5million to construct. The average lifespan of a standard tarmac road is 10 years however it is disheartening to see pictures of new tarmac surface washed away by mere rain water. This indicates that Shandong is not playing a fair game.

It is giving less in exchange for much, while government is seating back waiting on delivery of high quality project works. Government’s failure to inspect ongoing works also gives contractors leeway to do shoddy works. In fact, the minister of Roads and Bridges’ apology should have come in as a resignation not as a word. 

The lack of technocrats in the process of work is another important factor that contractors are riding on to deliver shoddy works. We see inspectors and engineers in the Ministry of Roads and Bridges however the question is, are they rightly qualified and do they do what they are paid to do. In countries like Kenya, Uganda and other countries despite the persistence of public corruption, technocrats do their job. 

Besides, these countries have strong law makers and anti-corruption commission and NGOs that put contractors to task to account for taxpayers’ money which is not the case in South Sudan, Contractors do substandard work because they know that politicians are busy fighting for bribes, sleeping in hotels, huge salaries and allowances instead of monitoring development projects in their constituencies.

The future of South Sudan is therefore at stake if these oil pre-sale agreements continue as such. Oil, the only ‘gold’ for the country will get depleted fast before we rebuild our country. Yet, the current 180,000 barrels of oil per day if well managed can significantly contribute to national development and sustain the economy for a few decades to come.

Way forward

Government of South Sudan should STOP contracting expensive and nontransparent oil in an advance. Selling oil and using part of that revenue to pay off contractors is a more viable option. In fact government may have yielded enough revenue and saved some from the 30,000 barrels per day awarded to Shandong.

Government should ensure continuous inspection and project audit. Well qualified professionals should be hired into government agencies to monitor development works. We have quite a number of fresh minds that have graduated from different countries and are willing to serve mother nation. However, political patronage, nepotism and tribalism are locking them outside. These professionals should be considered for the work. 

The country needs an independent Public Procurement and Disposal body to oversee public procurement. This will iron out the issue of government officials giving contracts to only those companies that give back ‘brown envelopes’ regardless of their performance record.

Building capacity at home is the new norm in public procurement. Competent local contractors should be given a chance to participate in the bidding and be awarded contracts if they win. This does not only build local capacity but ensures that more locals are employed by the project and in addition, government will not lose forex. Foreign contractors are found of employing only their nationals in skilled and semi-skilled roles.

Monitoring development projects can be transparently done by civil society organizations. Therefore, the existing civil society organizations should demand accountability from government agencies to ensure value for money projects are delivered. This has worked well in Kenya, Uganda and many other countries.

The author, Daniel Athior’o Atem, was the World Bank Blog4Dev2019 Winner for South Sudan||A member of the Youth Transforming Africa||Mandela Scholar. He can be reachEd via; atemathior@gmail.com. Check new article every Monday.

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