Lakes state government offer over 200 plots to returnees
By Manyang Mayom
February 16, 2011 (RUMBEK) – The government of Lakes State has provided over 200 plots to allow returnees to permanently settle in South Sudan after they returned to the region from Khartoum and other areas in the north.
The South has seen tens of thousands of returnees to the region ahead of during and after the referendum on Southern independence held last month.
According to the chief land officer at the directorate of land and surveys in Lakes state, Majak Mabor Keer said that, the returnees had been given plots for a period of one year. After that they will be required by the government to pay a fee for the land.
Mabor said that within all the 202 pieces of land there are public latrines, a play area for children and a water point. He said that on Wednesday the government planned to move returnees to who had been staying at Comboni Primary School. The official said that 23 people were allocated land on Wednesday and he hopes to allocate the rest of the plots in the near future.
He also added that, there are other areas which have been identified by the state government to relocated returnees those who are coming from Khartoum to have their own permanent residential plots.
Mabor noted that some of the returnees were not able to return carrying all of their belongings and property and it may take them time to establish new livelihoods in the South. It was for this reason, he said, that the fee of SDG 350 ($130) a year would not begin until next year to allow them to settle and find work.
Meanwhile, the director of the Southern Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation Commission in Lakes state, Philip Kot Job, said some returnees have yet to receive plots.
Kot said that “we have started allocating plots for returnees who came from Khartoum and particularly those who are at Comboni Primary School because [the] primary school will be open either early of March or middle of March. So we want school to be empty such that when the school opens the students and pupils must find [a] place clear we have made example today of picking plots and by tomorrow everyone in Comboni will come here and with task committee to pick their plot and be allocated such that we finalized the issue of plot to people who [are] coming from Khartoum”.
He said that the other returnees who have not yet received plots will be given priority to new plots in Rumbek, the Lakes state capital.
(ST)
Nhomlawda
Lakes state government offer over 200 plots to returnees
Good attempt to solve returnees’ problems but they need jobs to sustain them in town otherwise their living in town will be meaningless.
We need people to work in their fields instead of crowding towns with no sources of income.
Catch 22
Lakes state government offer over 200 plots to returnees
The returnees have places they call home. Settling them in town will lead to more request for preferential services which is not sustainable. It will set a dangerous precidence among other people, and it is precisely the same reason why some people are expecting free plots in Juba
Peter Elia Kuzee
Lakes state government offer over 200 plots to returnees
DEAR governor,
This is the way to lead us, thank you for giving land to our brothes after being out for long time.
Go ahead sir, you are the realy governor, be bless for peace.
makuei
Lakes state government offer over 200 plots to returnees
Nay, ordering the returnees to pay land fees after one year is not the best idea. Where will these people get jobs so that they can be able to establish themselves after one year?
Just give it to them freely, afterall it is their homeland.