By Bida Elly David
Central Equatoria State Council of Ministers on Thursday approved a document on the state environmental policy after series of deliberations and directed the minister concerned to finish the final amendment such that it could be tabled for deliberation before the state assembly.
An environmental policy is a document recognized by the state constitution containing set of guidelines on how the eco-system would be managed for the economic purpose and the safety of the citizens.
The document also contains set of policies and principles on how to utilize the environment cautiously to benefit the citizens. The regulations also hint rules to safeguard the environment from external and internal hazards and how it would be used for economic growth.
Speaking to the media after the meeting, Andruga Mabe Severino, the state minister of information reiterated that the council approved the document and adopted the policy for amendment.
“We had the ordinary Council of Ministers meeting chaired by Governor Emmanuel Adil Anthony. The ministers presented two important memos in front of the Council and the first was a memo from the minister of animal resources, fisheries on the Cairo trip of July 2022.”
“We had also the other memo from Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Forestry on the draft state environmental policy 2021-2025. The policy was so elaborative and the council approved and adopted the policy and after thorough deliberation, the council passed with necessary amendment to be fine-tuned,” he said.
“Mabe said the minster was then directed by the governor to make necessary amendment that was observed to be declared passed by the honorable house.
Mabe also echoed that the Council of Ministers has canceled a budget contract formerly signed between the government and Bahagat Construction Company of Egypt to restore the old Juba hotel as well as improving it to international standard.
He said that the company adamantly refused to comply with the contract and tended to frustrate the government as well as the ministerial committee that invested much of their efforts for the execution of the project.
The agreement and the plan for the construction of Dream Hotel with 325 rooms had been formerly finalized in Egypt between the State government and the Egyptian government.
This was revealed by the head of State government Committee of the Hotel deal, Wani Tom Sebit, who doubles as State Minister of Finance Planning and Investment.
“After thorough deliberations, the council adopted the first memo that one was the trip to Cairo and they came up with strong decision to cancel the budget contract that was signed previously by the State government and Bahagat Company in the government that preceded us.”
“The contract was not honored by the budget group after so many attempts made by our government to restore confidence so that the contract is carried on to restore the glory of our city. The company adamantly refused to comply and frustrated all efforts raised by the governor and even the ministerial committees that made all those necessary efforts,” he said.
Mabe pointed out that the company denounced the good faith manifested by the government to develop the city into a modern one.
He also revealed that it has now taken ten years since the agreement was made during the government of Clement Wani Konga.
He said that the disappointment made by the company has planted annoyance to the current government.
“They simply denounced all our good faith that we tried to make our city look nice after the contract met that the historical Juba hotel was to be upgraded to a five star hotels level. It has now taken over ten years that they never came back with a single motivational report that were indeed involved to construct those important buildings to make the image of our city look international,” he cited.
He noted that after countless and fruitless efforts made by the State government, the Cabinet on Thursday decided to cancel the contract and retrieved the land back for the state use under its control.