Elders and residents from the cities of Jalo, Awjila, Ajkhara and Tazerbo staged a sit-in on Saturday evening to protest the delay in the maintenance and development of the 252-kilometer-long and eight-meter-wide Ajdabiya-Jalo road.

The protesters said in a statement that the Government of National Unity signed a contract two years ago with a consortium of Egyptian companies to implement the project in a period not exceeding 11 months with a budget estimated at 460 million dinars.

The statement pointed out that Egyptian engineers visited the cities and met with their elders two months ago, they also looked at the road and withdrew samples of it for study but then left for their country suddenly.

The statement called on the Transport Projects Implementation Authority  in the Eastern Province to clarify the reason for the departure of these companies and called on the General Command to "speed intervention".

In February 2022, the Transport Projects Implementation Authority signed an agreement with the consortium of Egyptian companies (Orascom, Hassan Allam, and Rowad Engineering) to maintain and expand the Ajdabiya-Jalo road. 

The signing of the contract came after ratification by the Audit Bureau.

The road is considered the main route linking these oasis cities to the northeast, as well as leading to the city of Kufra in the southwest. 

"The road suffers from significant structural damage which has caused traffic accidents and resulted in loss of life and vehicles", according to the Ministry of Transportation statement from the time.