Many construction projects in South Sudan’s capital have come to a standstill after weeks of conflict in the country. Investors and workers remain spooked in spite of the absence of major fighting in the city since mid December.
Juba has grown exponentially since the 2005 peace agreement, with a particularly intense boom experienced since independence in 2011, fueled largely by investments in hotels, businesses, and donor-funded government complexes and NGO offices.
Witnesses say many tall buildings including several large-scale infrastructure projects have been left incomplete due to the ongoing crisis, though several smaller projects were seen underway, for example one at a hotel and office complex, and another in a residential area.
Work is still yet to resume at the unfinished Central Equatorial Tower, which is considered to be the tallest building in South Sudan. According to Simon Tut, a security guard at the site, “All the workers who built this tower have fled and are said to return later when the situation stabilizes.”
Salim, a contractor at another site where work is ongoing, said his company builds offices, hotels and residences. “Of course it is difficult to continue work during these hard times but I hope that the situation will improve so that our work can continue normally – otherwise it will lead to a huge loss for us.”
South Sudan’s army spokesman has reassured citizens that Juba is safe, in spite of sporadic gunfire in various neighborhoods of Juba by night over the last week. Government offices and banks remain open, but about 14,000 Juba residents have fled to the UN base and refuse to leave, and others left the country.
‘No one is willing to invest’
Speaking to Radio Tamazuj, a director of a construction company in Juba known as Comessa Construction said that both many people in the industry have not come back to the city: “We have lost clients and workers too. UN agencies have also stopped issuing bids for construction projects.”
Moses Dumo said that his company was to construct a school but they were told to wait until the country gets back to normal. “No one is willing to invest money when this conflict is going on, people now are reserving money,” he said.
For his part, a Somali businessman who sells building materials in Muniki market in Juba said that his sales have collapsed. “We can open from morning till evening and sometimes we do not get any client, but before we were making money,” he explained.
Another businessman cited the reduced volume of lorries coming from Uganda bringing building materials. He said the Ugandan truckers perceive the conflict as very bad and are reluctant to come even though the Nimule road is still open.
He added that it has become very difficult to get hard currency from the banks in South Sudan: “We applied but they told us to wait – this makes it difficult for us to import construction materials.”