Juba City Council mulls massive demolition exercise

JUBA – The mayor of Juba City Council has vowed to demolish all illegal buildings that are constructed on the streets of Juba City.

Mayor Kalisto Lado who has now acquired more than five bulldozers said the equipment shall be used for demolition exercise, roads construction as well as garbage collection within the city.

He asserted that the purpose of purchasing the equipment was to reduce the cost of hiring.

He was speaking during the unveiling of the equipment on Tuesday at the Juba City Council premises.

“This equipment will reduce the cost of constructing roads; it will also reduce the problem of collection of heaps of garbage like that of Jebel that used to cost us SSP 10 million. It is for the very first time that we have our equipment and these are the reasons why we purchased the equipment,” Lado said.

The Mayor urged the public to respect state laws and cooperate with the government to avoid inconveniences between the state government and municipal residents.

Mr. Lado said the demolition drive will also be motivated by the need to restructure land allocation.

“Another reason why we brought these things is because of those who don’t want to build on their plots and those who were allocated a plot 20 by 20 square meters but want to make it to 20 by 30,” he said.

Lado said some people who were given plots of 40 by 40 as a first-class but they often extend it to 40 by 50 square meters. He said such illegal extension will be demolished by the newly-purchased bulldozers.

“Last week the governor went to UNOCA and ordered shop owners who illegally constructed their shops there to vacate within 72 hours and some of them are still there,” he stated.

‘Follow the law’

Lado advised the public to construct on the land legally allocated to them by the government

“If your shop is 6-meter, construct on it and do not extend to 7 meters that may block roads and make movements difficult,” he stressed.

The Mayor also directed quarter councils to take up the responsibility of constructing roads and bridges in their respective jurisdiction within the residential areas to ease security patrol in the city.

“To the chairpersons of blocks, if your block does not have an office, make sure [there is] a block that has an office. If your block has a stream that makes it difficult for people to move, make sure you construct a bridge and if your block has a bad road, make sure you renovate it,” the mayor directed.

Speaking at the same event, Thiik Thiik Mayardit, deputy mayor for physical infrastructure emphasized the proper usage of the equipment.

He said the presence of the equipment will help them clear all the bad names that had been given to Juba City Council by the citizens by referring to them as robbers.

In addition, Taban Charles Michael, the acting and deputy chief executive officer of Juba City Council warned leaders of interfering with their duties.

“Sometimes we in the government, when there is a facility like this, there will be a lot of interferences, you will find maybe a black or a red pen may come even before you could start your work,” he said. “They are all scattered and they break down within the shortest period then they will be brought back to you for repair.”

“I honestly want to appeal that let us devise a policy or mechanism to control this facility,” Taban added.

He applauded the leadership of the city council for the initiative and called on all the different levels of the state local government to cooperate with the municipal authority to improve service delivery to residents.