By Kidega Livingstone
The construction of the Juba Market modern shopping mall has resumed after being suddenly suspended in March this year.
The suspension was due to a claim that the land belonged to someone other than the Juba City Council.
According to Deputy Speaker of Juba City Council, Peter Paulino Loro, the construction has now restarted after a team from the Juba City Council, in collaboration with the state and national governments, as well as the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, resolved the matter.
“Our people (Juba City Council) work a lot to resolve the issue, including the national government and a team from the Food and Agriculture Organization, by doing some advertising in the newspaper to make sure the construction started,” Paulino said.
“We are organizing one day to go and see how the construction is going so that we can be able to inform the public because the market is of public interest,” he added.
Early this year, the Director of the Juba Block Council was questioned by the assembly after the sudden suspension of construction on the shopping mall.
In February 2022, the former Mayor of Juba City Council, Michael Allah-Jabu Ladu, announced that the office had secured a $4 million grant from a development partner to build the first modern shopping mall in Juba town located in the former taxi park.
On May 24th, 2024, the construction of the Juba modern market, being carried out by the Infinity Development Construction Company, was halted.