By Charles K Mark
Government on Wednesday launched Juba urban road upgrading project to ease traffic flow and enhance connectivity in the city.
With the growing population and urbanization, Juba City has experienced mounting challenges in transportation. Congested roads, inadequate infrastructure, and limited connectivity are the sights of the day.
The new project encompasses rehabilitation, expansion of existing roads, and construction of key roadways within the city.
Speaking during the launch, the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Dr. Bak Barnaba Chol pledged to follow-up on contractors assigned to renovate the urban roads.
“This time will be a bit different. We will make accountability as a priority in deliveries of this road construction,” The minister warned.
Bak said he is going to spearhead monitoring of the progress of the road construction daily.
“We will follow you to make sure that you deliver this road. And we will also sit down and balance the books to see whether we have paid you or not,” Bak said.
The Minister pledged to make timely payments to the contractors to remove some lame excuses for not delivering as agreed.
“If we have paid you enough, then you must deliver and we’ll make sure we pay you so that we progress as expected,” he emphasized.
The finance minister praised the state authority’s initiative to open up road networks.
“It has been so much hard for our people to access their houses. People have been sleeping in floods. The Juba City has been so much devastated because of lack of roads and drainages,” he stressed.
Meanwhile, the Project Manager for ARC, Kur John Aleu assured to deliver to the expectation of the government.
“I want to assure all of you that we are going to do our best. We are going to implement this project in a timely manner and the objective will be achieved,” he promised.
He cited encroachment that most often creates friction with the natives as some of the challenges hampering contraction progress.
“We are happy that the embodiment of the state authorities, the county, the mayor, has made a way through for the demolition which we witnessed,” he expressed.
Mr. Kur also alluded that issues of cash flow could also affect speedy implementation of the project.
“In fact, without money there will be no good progress, if the good minister is serious about what he says then we shall deliver surely,” he added.
Minister of Roads and Bridges Simon Mijok Majak highlighted issues with drainage due to encroachment on road reserves.
He said Urban planning requires construction to be five meters away from the road.