Rural Infrastructure Strategy in South Sudan Final Report July 2015

The European Union has funded a Technical Assistance (TA) contract to support the development of a “Rural Infrastructure Strategy in South Sudan”.

The main relevant documents were collected and the Team of Experts undertook a desk review in order to develop a more detailed understanding of the scope of the project.

They also identified, in close consultation with the EUD and members of the Steering Committee (World Bank, DfID, and USAID) and other Donors, a list of stakeholders who were met during this specific TA. The TA’s methodology is clearly articulated in the mission's Terms of Reference (ToR) and it was largely discussed among the different key stakeholders that were consulted during the overall mission in South Sudan.

The global objective of the assignment was to facilitate donors and partners to align behind a single strategic approach to rural transport infrastructure in South Sudan, including feeder roads, trunk roads, bridges, waterways, airports, airstrips, helipads and railways in order to:

i. Facilitate and reduce the cost of delivery of humanitarian aid;

ii. Facilitate the functioning of markets, with options for a gradual transition to a more sustainable longer-term development if and when a more enabling environment exists; and

iii. Support a structural improvement in food security.

The specific objective was to prepare and present a strategic vision of rural infrastructure needs in South Sudan alongside an analysis of current interventions (coverage, duplications, quality) with gaps between the two and identification of blockages (bottlenecks) to delivery.

This assignment delivers a set of practical options outlining key transport investments required from a joint humanitarian and development perspective, depending on the different relative weights put on (i) (ii) and (iii) above. The focus has included an estimated costing of both the initial capital outlays and future maintenance expenditures, and recommendations have been made.

The team started the mission in Juba (South Sudan) on April 27, 2015 and left the country by May 23, 2015.