The construction of the long-awaited Nimule One-Stop Border Post (OSBP) has received a major push after the European Union approved €10 million in new funding to support the project, TradeMark Africa and the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) announced this week.
The financing, secured through TradeMark Africa in partnership with UNOPS, aims to strengthen South Sudan’s institutional and infrastructural capacity to deliver faster, more efficient customs and trade facilitation services for the thousands of traders who depend on the Nimule–Elegu crossing.
The OSBP will include modern facilities such as administrative offices, laboratories, parking yards and other essential infrastructure.
It will be built under the South Sudan Trade and Transport Facilitation Programme in Magwi County, Eastern Equatoria State.
Once completed, the project is expected to significantly reduce clearance time, cut transport costs, and boost trade volumes between South Sudan and its East African neighbours.
Construction is scheduled for completion in 2028, with works expected to take 30 months.
Currently, over 150,000 Ugandan traders operate across the Nimule-Elegu border every year. However, they face persistent challenges, including slow clearance procedures, smuggling risks, and climate-related disruptions such as floods and wildfires.
Anna Nambozoze, Country Director for the Uganda–South Sudan Programme at TradeMark Africa, said the organisation is already training border officials and cross-border traders to improve service delivery even as construction progresses.
She revealed that a prefabricated structure will be erected by March 2026 to temporarily host border agencies and ensure smooth operations during the construction phase.
“The prefab will have administrative blocks to house key offices for smoother border operations,” Nambozoze said.
During a project update workshop in Nimule, John Mading Bol, Deputy Commissioner General of the South Sudan Revenue Authority (SSRA), welcomed the EU-funded development and assured traders of enhanced security along major trade routes.
“We are going to deploy more security personnel so that our roads are safe for traders and their goods,” Bol stated.
Zizi Maksudi, SSRA’s Deputy Commissioner for Trade Facilitation, added that the new OSBP is expected to help curb smuggling, which often occurs when traders exploit delays in customs clearance.
South Sudan’s Busiest Border to Benefit
Nimule is South Sudan’s busiest land border, handling 90% of imports from Uganda, with an estimated 200 trucks crossing daily.
Authorities say the upgraded OSBP will ease congestion, streamline documentation, and improve overall trade flow once fully operational.
