Authorities in Melut County of South Sudan's Upper Nile State have launched the rehabilitation of internal roads and construction of the county administration offices.
The development projects, which also include the provision of water to the villages within the county, were initiated after the authorities signed contracts with the Wells Investment Company and the Sudanese Alken Company.
Speaking during the launch, Melut Commissioner Deng Jo Angok said the citizens held peaceful protests led by civil society organizations earlier demanding the provision of services.
He said the citizens have the right to demand services and promised to work with the organizations to ensure that the projects are delivered as agreed.
For his part, Engineer Mohamed Ahmed Badr, Projects Manager at Wells Investment Company Project said the first phase of the project to deliver water will begin with the supply of water to eight villages and then eventually to the rest of the county.
He said the project will take a maximum of seven months.
Engineer Hatem Hussein Mohamed, the director-general of the Sudanese company Alken, constructing the county's administrative offices, said the two-storey building will take six months to be completed.
Thon Beny Thon, the official spokesman for civil society organizations applauded the move and said it was a positive step in meeting the demands of the residents. he also appealed to the companies to commit to implementing the contracts.