By Gladys Fred Kole
Central Equatorial State government tries to fulfill its promise of expanding road network in Juba City, by reaching to Gudele Block Nine, neighborhood.
State Governor Emmanuel Adil Anthony yesterday led a team of line ministries concerned with infrastructure on tour of road opening and grading in the Gudele.
State Ministers of Lands, Housing, and Public Utilities, Roads and Bridges, and the Mayor of Juba City Council, accompanied the governor on the site visit.
According to the governor’s office, the state aims at improving road connectivity and standards for smooth traffic flow as well as facilitates service delivery.
The state government had set a goal of embarking on a strategic direction of road network expansion to decongest the city of traffic jam.
During the site visit, Governor Adil commended the residents for their level of cooperation with the authorities, which has culminated in speedy road network creation.
He calls for continuous cooperation and coordination between residents and the relevant authorities as they continue with the road works.
For her part, Nunu Diana Alison, a Gudele resident, said she was impressed to see the governor heed their call for better feeder roads, saying it comes at the right time when the citizens are in need of services.
Mrs. Nunu has been a good critic of the Central Equatoria State government, using her social media handles and other platforms to advocate for proper service delivery in the state.
With this latest show of action from state authorities, Nunu said she will continue to use her platforms to pressure the state government to ensure that services are delivered to the people.
“We will ensure that we monitor because such visits don’t yield fruit, and such visits only came as a result of pressure from citizens,” she said. “We shall continue monitoring how such visits are going to ensure that roads are constructed and maintained.”
“If you look at Juba’s state when it rains, it doesn’t show proper capital city planning; we hope this visit will yield a positive result beyond the governor taking his leadership to see the road at Gudele Block 9,” Nunu echoed.
According to her, such a visit without positive results is just a show-off or just a calming down of pressure as citizens demand better service delivery.
Nunu hails herself for being able to amplify citizens’ voices positively through social media and different platforms in order for them to get better service delivery, an advocacy that has slowly started paying off and shown positive results.
“I have received calls from different leaders, discussing positive results towards what I have been amplifying through the platforms.” Nunu cited
She also urged citizens to use their voices in a positive manner and remove the element of fear.
“We deserve the services because they are the result of the taxes we pay,” she lamented.
Nunu, however, laughed off the call she made on her social media for the removal of the state minister of roads and bridges.
She told this outlet yesterday that she was only piling pressure on the minister to get out of his comfort zone and deliver on his docket.
“We need to know what he is doing because if there’s no budget, as he clearly stated in some forums, then why would a whole state ministry of roads exist?” she questioned.
“It should be disbanded and the minister resigns; we don’t want to call for a minister to be removed, but he can resign if he is not adding value to his work.” She added.
Gudele Block 9 residents have welcomed the government’s decision to expand road connectivity in the area and described it as a vital step towards the realization of effective service delivery.