South Sudan Juba dreams of Nile boom-town status
Sept 3, 2006 (JUBA) — On the steamy banks of the Nile, busy modern docks and gleaming giant warehouses bustle with boats, while businessmen relax in the luxurious green gardens of a five-star luxury hotel.
Welcome to boom-time in the capital of the new autonomous southern Sudan, a war-ravaged, chronically underdeveloped state still reeling from a bloody north-south civil war that ended last year.
Alas, for the battered city of Juba, it is only an architect’s model.
The ambitious 80-million-dollar (63-million euro) project is but a dream of Kuwaiti investors hoping to rebuild the riverport and construct the hotel complex in the oil-rich region.
Yet many believe the vision will become a reality as Juba and its environs recover from the 21-year conflict between Khartoum and the ex-rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army that now governs here.
“There are great things to come,” says Faraj Juma Zaied, who is coordinating the project between the government and the Al-Masoud International Group. “This will transform Juba.”
There is no doubt that, if it happens, the 40-million dollar, 450-room hotel, 30-million dollar freight and passenger port and 10-million dollar fishing facility, will have a massive impact on the region.
But on the ground, the plans are still far from implementation.
Down the Kuwaiti’s dream of a four-lane highway — still a mud road crowded with bicycles, ramshackle trucks and expensive aid workers’ four-wheel drives — a few simple boats rest on a peaceful riverbank.
Jungle has largely reclaimed the port, with the neglected river channel now 20 meters (yards) from the dock and a rusty crane used only by goats for shade and children as a soccer goal post.
Although Juba, a former government garrison town, is better off than many rural areas that saw the heaviest fighting, it lacks basic infrastructure, including water and sewage systems, paved roads and reliable power.
Transport is key to development in the landlocked state. Without the river and roads, often impassable due to floods, broken bridges, landmines or the risk of bandits, most goods have to be flown in.
The port model — kept in the crumbling Juba Hotel that staff claim once hosted Queen Elizabeth II but today houses those left homeless by war — are therefore a symbol of the hope for the region.
“It is a serious project, and I am very hopeful for it,” Zaied told AFP, insisting, optimistically, it will be finished within 18 months. “It might be completed in even less time.”
And, it is not the only grand plan.
El Hadi Diab, from the investment committee of the ruling ex-rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement’s (SPLM), speaks of building an impressive future, including a railway to the Kenyan coast.
“It is starting from nothing, and though there is a lot of money, there are so many of the most basic needs for it to be spent on first,” said Diab.
“But I can see south Sudan with a successful tourist industry, its oil industry goes without saying, and there are also chemical by-products,” he says.
Chinese and Arab investors are scouting for possibilities, the World Bank, international donors and UN agencies are pouring money into projects, and southern Sudanese who fled the war are returning to invest.
“There is enormous potential here,” said Joseph Stamboulieh, a former refugee and now US citizen who has returned to his birthplace as CEO of Southern Sudan Airlines.
“South Sudan is so rich in natural resources, but without a proper transport system it won’t develop,” said Stamboulieh, whose two aircraft are waiting only for Khartoum’s permission to begin flights.
In anticipation, eight nations have already set up diplomatic missions here — four from neighboring Uganda, Kenya, Egypt and Eritrea, and four from the west, France, the United States, Britain and Norway — and more are expected.
But with most buildings in disarray, most diplomats operate from green canvas tents, like Jacques Gerard, the Chef du Bureau de Juba, who reports to the French embassy in Khartoum.
“It has huge potential, but the human resources are scarce,” Gerard says, noting the autonomous regional government’s first-ever budget was 1.3 billion dollars (one billion euros), much of which is shared oil revenue from Khartoum.
However, the tent-dwelling diplomat needs little reminder of the scale of the reconstruction needed and the problems for prospective businesses.
“This is a remote part of Africa, a region left outside the main current of modern history,” Gerard said. “In the last 50 years it has enjoyed only 11 years of peace. It has completely shaken society.”
Nor is business easy, complicated by a parallel system where old enemies Khartoum remain dominant in the federal government.
While French oil giant Total has already issued tenders for mine clearance and seismic surveys for a 250,000-square-kilometer (96,525-square-mile) oil concession granted by Khartoum, the south Sudanese government granted a license for the same block to a British company, White Nile.
Olivier Michel, who heads Total in Sudan, remains unable to press ahead until the deadlock is broken. If permission is given, Michel said they could be pumping oil within nine months.
“We are optimistic, otherwise we wouldn’t be here,” Michel said. “Total will be present in Sudan for many years, and we want to take an active part in the reconstruction of the country.”
But he also warned of potential risks with short-term investors looking for quick returns.
“A company like Total is rightfully constrained by such issues as human rights, the environment and security,” he said. “This could be El Dorado for a small company, multiplying by hundreds or thousands their initial capital, but it could also sadly benefit companies more flexible on those issues.”
Investors are eagerly eying those potential profits, but on Juba’s dusty high street, young men resentfully complain the opportunities pass them by.
“The foreigners have jobs but not us,” says Lonuer Nzuer, who sells single cigarettes and lives in a ruined house. “I see their big cars and money, but they have not helped me.”
Grossly inflated costs for imported goods driven by soaring numbers of foreign aid workers — such as 150 dollars a night (117 euros) for a simple tent — have already put prices far beyond the reach of most Sudanese.
“We must be careful that for the investment that arrives, the right balance is struck between free trade and addressing the real poverty,” warned Diab. “There will be big changes, but it must be done in the correct way.”
(ST/AFP)