The government of Western Equatoria State on Friday last week signed a Memorandum of Understanding with an investment company, TODAF Engineering and Civil Works Limited, to carry out civil construction works in the state worth 2.5 billion US dollars.
The agreement aims at the construction of a new state secretariat office, parliament, ministries, governor’s residence, ten airstrips in all the counties, and one international airport.
Ten county headquarters, county commissioner’s residences, primary and secondary schools, hospitals and health care centers, water sources, electricity, 100 km asphalt, and graded roads connecting the state to other states will also be constructed.
The agreement was signed by the governor of Western Equatoria State, Alfred Futiyo, and TODAF Managing Director, James Odaga.
“I brought all the chiefs, politicians, women, and everyone to see the project. All of them accepted because it is a development project. So we agreed that these people should work, and we are going to see if the national government will pay back if not then the state will try to pay the money if their work will be done well," governor Futiyo added.
He called on the citizens to work with the company, assuring that security will be provided to the company to complete their work.
James Odaga, the managing director of TODAF called on the people of Western Equatoria to support this project to completion for development to be realized saying that the signing of this memorandum marks the beginning of their work in the state and he asked the government to provide security.
“This memorandum of understanding which we have signed is what allows us to start our feasibility studies and within three to six months the work will start. But this is based on the support from the officials from the national and state governments. If they don’t support us, nothing will bear fruit so we need your support," he said.
The company promised to reserve 70 percent of all jobs for locals while 30 percent will be filled by experts over the two-year project period.
According to the agreement, the money will be paid back by the government after the completion of the project. The national government will pay from crude oil proceeds and some will be paid by the state government.
The agreement was signed after approval by chiefs, politicians from different parties, representatives of youth, women, traders, and the organized forces who attended the meeting.