The local authorities in Mundri West County in Western Equatoria State have started sensitizing the community on the effects of the construction of the Juba-Mundri-Yambio highway which was initiated by President Salva Kiir last year.
The work on the highway started in Juba last year and is expected to last between five and six years. The project is funded by the national government.
Zilipher Dawa, the commissioner for Mundri West County, told Radio Tamazuji after the launch of the first phase of the project in the county on Monday that he appealed to the community to cooperate with the company working on the road for the smooth running of the road works. She said some people’s property falls within the path of the project and urged them to embrace development.
“l came from Madiba to officially launch the road project which has already entered Mundri West County and it is now in Mililoko and about to reach the town,” Commissioner Dawa said. “My word of encouragement to the people is that when there is development, there is a side effect and many will lose a lot of properties like fruit trees, houses, tombs, and many more. We all should be patient and accept the development.”
She added: “Not only the highway, but after some time, water supply and many more developments like schools, big hospitals will come. When the road was poor, it was hard and security was poor but now the highway is here and we need to work together and support each other.”
Meanwhile, the chief engineer of Save the Nation Company that is working on the road, Daite Matthew, said those affected by the project will be compensated after being redistricted by the company.
“There are different phases; the first is bush clearing, then murram and tarmacking will take time, like 6 years,” Engineer Daite said. “Not only trees but also tombs of the dead and other affected properties will be compensated and registration will be done.”
Gadi John, a project-affected resident said they welcomed the development but appealed to the commissioner and the company to compensate them with plots of land.
“It is the commissioner who is supposed to talk for us and she has to look for a place where we will go,” Gadi said.
For his part, Michael Paul said he is a disabled person and his plot falls in the project’s path and he appealed to the local government to allocate him another piece of land.
“I am disabled and have kids and my home has fallen on the highway so I am calling on the government to do something for us so as we can know where to go,” Paul said.