By Matia Samuel Timatio
The deputy mayor for Juba city council, Thiik Thiik Mayardit said the city council will soon start tarmacking four main roads in Juba City.
The four main roads to be tarmacked by the national companies include a road from Al-Shabah Children Hospital leading to Konyo-Konyo, the road going through Emmanuel church; another will be passing through from Lou up to the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation to Yaro Plaza.
In an interview with No.1 Citizen Daily Newspaper, deputy mayor for infrastructure Thiik Thiik Mayardit said it is the obligation of his office to tarmac those roads within the city.
He said they were already directed by the Governor of Central Equatoria State to double their efforts in rendering services to the people living in Juba.
He added that he is ready to execute the orders from the Governor because that is why he has been appointed to the office citing that clearing of the roads has started and tarmacking them is already in pipeline.
The deputy mayor however called on those who might have encroached into the road to abide by the directives during the construction.
“We are here as government to stand with anyone, whether a South Sudanese or foreigner is supposed to be protected but they are not supposed to be victimized because we are the government or because you have someone behind you oh no, because the President of the country said that the country belongs to South Sudanese that is why nobody should be victimized because he or she is from which tribe,” he emphasized.
He assured that the quality of the roads this time will be the standard like the one in any other cities.
“The quality of the road this time will be different because all those roads that were made before were made out of context and nobody was supervising them and for me any road that will be made now when I am still in the office must be made with drainage so that whenever it rains no water will come to the road or the sand that is why I will have to be there to supervise the work,” he asserted.
He however blamed the Ministry of Roads and Bridges for not supervising the construction of the roads that’s why the construction is not moving quickly.
Thiik Thiik also blamed his Boss the Mayor of Juba city for not taking action on the local orders he always issue.
He further slammed the city mayor for announcing a ban on street vending or roadside selling without providing an alternative space for the vendors to do their petty business which is for their survival in the city.
“Like the local order which has been issued banning people not to sell along the roads, it’s not a local order. Where do you want these citizens to go and feed their people? You must look for place first that this is the place,” he argued.
Thiik Thiik urged the South Sudanese to do what is right by uniting to correct whatever has gone wrong saying nobody will come from outside to correct the people of South Sudan.
The Juba City deputy mayor for infrastructure also appealed to the international communities especially the Embassies which are accredited to South Sudan to put in their hands in tarmacking the roads.
He argued that they (embassies) cannot just come and spend years in the country without leaving any legacy for the South Sudanese.