The food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has revealed a plan to build first ever modern public market with space for agricultural products in South Sudan.
The organization has secured 4 million US dollars from Africa Development Bank to construct a historic shopping mall in juba after City Council provides the land.
“In collaboration with African Development bank, we are putting around 4 million US dollars for construction, and the city council has already given the land in which the construction will take place.”
It says the Council should take the lead in designing the market together with the engineers of FAO to propose a design in the best interest of South Sudanese.
Meshack Malo, FAO Representative in South Sudan, says the modern market will be operational within one and half years, hoping to reduce the cost of renting for small-scale businesses.
He says many traders pay higher rent, making them increase price in the market due to lack of facilities for the business personnel.
“We will try to make sure that is a market where the common Juba citizens can go there and interact so that the tomatoes and vegetable sellers can get to access the place to making it multi-purposes,” Malo said.
Mr. Malo further said his organization is much concerned about the livelihood of farmers, and they will not be excluded in the upcoming market center.
FAO believes that South Sudan could move out of the food aid with current statistics showing local farmers produced eight hundred thousand matrix tones of cereal last year. It called for sustainable peace to ensure the development partners helped the country achieve its dream.
Malo further said the Juba City Council leadership should be able to apply their experience from a recent trip to Kenya to see different markets and shopping malls.
The Mayor of Juba City Council, Michael Allah -Jabu, returned from Kenya on Wednesday after leading a joint delegation to gain experience on best practices of developing a city.