[ 2011-09-04 ]

S. Sudan to move capital to Lakes state
JUBA, South Sudan (AFP) - The government of
newly-independent South Sudan has decided to
relocate its capital from Juba to a more central
location in Lakes state, a senior official said on
Sunday.

"The council of ministers has decided that the
capital city will be relocated from Juba," the
government's secretary general Abdon Agaw told
AFP, adding the new capital would be located in
Ramciel, in Lakes state.

The decision, taken on Friday, has to be approved
by the parliament of South Sudan, which gained its
independence July 9, and is unlikely to result in
any imminent change as the new capital would have
to be built from scratch.

But the move has been mulled for months and the
country's information minister, quoted by local
media, has said the relocation process would be
completed within about six years.

Agaw said authorities in Central Equatoria, of
which Juba is the state capital, had refused to
provide the land required by the government for
the city's expansion.

Ramciel is an area which lies between the three
main regions of the world's newest nation: Greater
Equatoria, Greater Upper Nile and Greater Bahr
al-Ghazal.

The existing capital, in the far south, was left
in ruins by the decades of conflict between
Khartoum and southern rebels when it served as a
government garrison town.

But despite the lack of basic infrastructure,
including reliable power, water and sewage
systems, it has thrived in recent years,
witnessing a rapid construction boom.

Juba has drawn entrepreneurs from around the world
as well as a small army of international aid
agency and UN workers.

Source - AFP

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