Demolitions: Juba’s notorious bulldozer back on streets
Juba City Council has resumed the controversial demolition exercise, terming it a reorganisation plan to provide a facelift for the city.
Heavy security forces, encompassing the South Sudan National Police Service (SSNPS), the South Sudan People Defence Forces (SSPDF), and the National Security (NS) were deployed in Hong-Hong (Juba Nabari residential area) on Saturday, to secure the demolition exercise.
The Hong-Hong area has been earmarked as one of the zones in Juba where most of the residents have opposed the Juba City Council’s move.
Speaking during the re-launch of the demolition exercise, the Mayor of Juba City Council, Michael Thomas Allah-Jabu, said they are eyeing the opening of the roads in Juba town with the resumption of the exercise.
“Today we are back [to] start the opening of the roads. We are standing here in the Hong-Hong area within the Juba Nabari residential area. Today’s launch is the continuity of the opening of the roads and the reorganisation of the Juba City,’’ Allah-Jabu said.
According to him, they will continue with the exercise to areas of Kator town block, Munuki block council, and Gudele, where there are roads in those places to be opened.
Allah-Jabu promised not to compromise since the authorities had given enough time for people to evacuate the marked areas.
“These exercises have started and are going to continue until we achieve what we are after.”
“Of course, we have given the grace period to people to prepare themselves by removing the structures that enriched the roads, and we also have concerns [of] our civilians within the city of Juba,” the Juba City Council boss stressed.
He urged the civilian population in the affected areas to work with engineers and others involved in the exercise to avoid misunderstandings and problems with security forces.
He said, “We, as Juba City Council, appeal to our civil population in Juba that the job we are doing is for your benefit and is for service delivery.”
“With the opening of the roads, we will have the services of vehicle movement easily, enjoy the services of water, electricity, and security, especially the movement of the fire brigade, which will always help in case such issues may arise,” he emphasised.
Persuades residents
Allah-Jabu called on the public to stand with the Juba City Council, adding that the exercise was not against anyone.
“We are after the reorganisation of Juba City, and we will be visiting all the corners of this city as we started today,” he stressed.
The mayor said they would continue with the beautification of Juba City as it has been started in the areas around the national parliament along Ministries Road.
He said from there, they will move to the airport road, including other places like behind J1, saying that this is a current plan.
Last September, the former mayor of Juba City Council, Kalisto Lado, launched an exercise called “Reorganisation of Town and Market in Juba City,” which involved the opening of roads, and demolishing illegal buildings that were constructed on the streets of the city.
Kalisto, who was later fired, stated that the demolition campaign would 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 of 20 by 20 square metres but want to make it 20 by 30.
He accused some people of extending their plots from the original ones.
“Some people were given plots of 40 by 40 as a first-class, but they often extended it to 40 by 50 square meters. Such an illegal extension will be demolished. “
