According to a local official and a company manager, a new international airport is being built in the Akon Village of Gogrial West County, Warrap State.
Akon is the home village of South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir Mayardit.
Gogrial West County Commissioner Victor Wek koordit told Radio Tamazuj over the weekend that the construction of the Akon International Airport is underway, saying Wunkoc Engineering Company, a South Sudanese company, is doing the work.
“The construction of the airport has started. Wunkoc Engineering Company has brought 120 trucks from Juba and has been bringing murram from Malek Alek in Aweil South county of Northern Bahr el Ghazal State,” he explained.
The local official said the new airport, if completed, will improve business and transportation in the greater Bahr el Ghazal region.
“The airport is important because it will provide services to people and improve business in the Bahr el Ghazal region and make air transport easier since people used to go to Kuajok, Aweil, and Wau for air transport,” Commissioner Wek said.
The commissioner, nevertheless, did not disclose the cost of the project. The bidding process and how the contract was awarded to the company remains unclear.
For his part, Malek Riing, the Director of Administration at Wunkoc Engineering Company, confirmed the construction of the new airport in Akon, saying the project will be completed within two years.
“Our work is going well and will take two years to finish. The contract was signed on February 15, 2023. We take murram from Malek Alek town because the community agreed that we take murram from them,” he said.
“We talked to the community of Malek Alek, and the company will build for them a hospital and a bridge because their current bridge used to cut them off from accessing markets,” he added.
The airport construction is the second development project in Akon after the tarmac road construction.
Last month, the residents of Akon were upbeat about witnessing the construction of the first asphalt road in the area and the entire state. The works are being done by African Resources Corporation LTD, which has been contracted by the national government to construct several interstate highways in South Sudan.