By Taban Gabriel
King News 16th Sept 2024 – The National Minister of Transport Madut Biar Yiel, who appeared before the Transitional National Legislative Assembly (TNLA) on Monday, was baked dry by some parliamentarians over the “appalling status” of Juba International Airport (JIA).
The members of the August house questioned Minister Madut over several issues, including flooding of the runway when it rains, control of the airspace, the “unrestricted access” of vehicles to the runway, and the uncompleted terminal building, among others
Minister Madut’s appearance in parliament was primarily to give clarification on some of the sections added to the amended South Sudan Civil Aviation Authority bill, but the lawmakers couldn’t let the opportunity slip off their hands before they questioned his ministry activities
“The runway floods, when it rains, planes are unable to land. One day, we were hovering over Juba for nearly three hours because it was raining and the runway had flooded; I don’t know why it was very difficult for the runway to be fixed and this is a security matter,” 1ST Deputy Speaker of parliament Oyet Nataniel questioned
Deputy Oyet further inquired about the delay in the completion of the terminal building at JIA and urged the minister to complete the work.
“When we travel around, you find real modern terminals which look like ours, which has stalled, so that one needs to be worked on,” he advised
Remijo Lasu Peter, representing Morobo County in Central Equatoria State, questioned the standard of the runway at JIA
“The runway is believed to be short and some aircrafts are not able to land and there was renovation, is the renovation over” Remijo asked.
Remijo additionally cross-examined the preparedness of the South Sudan Civil Aviation Authority in taking over the airspace from Sudan.
“Previously, there was a question of capacity; that we don’t have the capacity, have you trained the cadres?” he inquired
Mary Nyawulang from Ayod County in Jonglei State questioned the cabinet minister over the unrestricted access to JIA
“… My concern is I am worried about the security of Juba International Airport, whereby you see everybody with a vehicle enter. When you are going to receive bodies, people will go inside in thousands. Does it help us in terms of security? Is there no way for us to regulate this?” Mary ask
In his elaborate response, Minister Madut gave a comprehensive account of what transpired in his Ministry during and before his tenure in office.
Minister Madut blames the flooding of the airport on lack of drainage system along the runway a fault he attributed to the contractor.
“Actually, the old runway of Juba, before our independence, was short, and then the contract was given to a Chinese company to make an extension to the runway. The extension was done, and then the link was built, the company did not make drainage because the end of the old runway was where the water passed to that lagoon to the north-east of the airport, but it was blocked, and then they made an alternative to dig the drainage along the side the runway up to the north and then come down to the east to go to the lagoon …” he said
The Minister said his institution is working to resolve and address the issue of flooding on the runway.
On the question of airspace, Madut said that the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) gave South Sudan four conditions to fulfill before it was accorded the right to control.
The four conditions include amending the Civil Aviation Bill, which he referred to as a “legal framework of the ICAO,” the accident and incident bill, the facility for controlling the airspace, and the financial autonomy of the civil aviation authority.
“The global ICAO has already contributed to the aviation bill, and once passed, surely we are going to pass one audit of the legal framework,” he continued.
On the question of capacity, Madut said the South Sudan Civil Aviation Authority is “fully equipped with knowledge” to assume responsibility for air traffic control.
The country is yet to officially launch its air traffic control facility, which has been delayed “because they (contractor) require some money to hand it over to us,” according to Madut
The transport minister said the ICAO gave South Sudan 365 days to meet the conditions, else Sudan will continue to manage the airspace.
South Sudan became a sovereign State in 2011, but since then, 13 years down the road, the neighboring Sudan has continued to control its airspace.