Transport prices too high in South Sudan

Transport and power are the major challenges to trade and commerce in Southern Sudan leading to high prices of goods and services, H.E Barnaba Marial Benjamin said.

His Excellency Barnaba Marial Benjamin
GOSS Minister for Commerce and Industry

Marial is the Minister for commerce and Industry in the Government of Southern Sudan (GoSS). He released these remarks last week during an interview in his office. Marial said that only if the transport net work is improved in the country, prices of goods and services will drop.

There is need to push the local population into farming production, especially in the rural areas, in order to make the population viable in terms of producing goods and services, Marial suggested. He added that power and energy are some of the tremendous challenges which the GOSS needs to address. They are limiting investors from operating in the country. ”If we have the cheap sources of power in Southern Sudan, then the investors will come in to build their”, Marial explained.

“The challenges we are facing are very strategic and crucial”, Marial said. He also pointed out that; communication is one of the unexceptional factors that can not escape to be mentioned. Adding that, this goes hand in hand with transport.

He urged that only one thing wanted above all is; the prevalence of peace in the country. “All we are asking for is peace for us to improve the living standard of our people”.

Prices of goods and services in Juba are incomparable to other cities in the world. They are double or even triple the prices of goods and services in the East African cities of Kampala, Nairobi etc. This has been so mainly because of transport costs. Traders incur transport costs more than costs of goods and services they buy in the neighbouring countries. To recover these costs, they have to compensate by charging high prices for their goods and services.

This business characteristic has made Juba as Southern Sudan’s capital famous, or rather notorious, in the world. It was at one time been reported by the BBC as one of the world’s most expensive cities. However, despite of this, Juba is also one of the world’s cities with an extraordinarily rapid development rate.