New Liaison Office in Juba, South Sudan
Juba, South Sudan
ACCOMMODATION IS STILL A MAIN PROBLEM!
by Mads Badstue, Sales Account Manager
Kjaer & Kjaer Liaison Office, Juba - South Sudan is now settling in and can add more and more services.
4 months down the road with our Juba Set-up and I am still challenged and amazed by the rapidly changing conditions in Juba and South Sudan.
In order to include a few pictures with this message, I was emptying my camera and I was surprised to see how things have developed since I came down here in November last year!
At that time there were hardly any cars on the roads (except for UNMIS Nissan Patrols) and it was hard to find the most basic stuff. Now the roads are full of private second-hand cars from Uganda and Congo, UN and International NGO cars. More and more groceries are available at the market. All this thanks to the new trade routes by road from Kampala and Nairobi. The road to Juba has just recently been de-mined by UN standards, though some parts are only cleared to 4 meters width.
The main issue for discussion around the dinner tables in Juba is still the lack of proper accommodation, best explained with an average rate of USD 100 a night for a bed in one of the tent camps. Until now, this and the poor logistics in general have held back most of the NGO and UN agencies to move in full time.
Fortunately, we are better off with prefab accommodation in the RA International compound. In this compound we also have a little Kjaer & Kjaer office. The RA International workshop is up running and is by far the best equipped workshop in town. Beside the daily incoming work, the workshop is a part of our Juba Set-up with after sales service, PDI, servicing etc.
In order to meet the always “yesterday" delivery demand we have established a left-hand-drive Nissan stock in Kampala to serve South Sudan destinations. Due to bad road conditions the vehicles are brought in on thier own wheels. The logistic procedures are in place and they have already proven to be effective with a total transit time of only seven working days from Kampala to Juba. Finally we have managed to do a DDU delivery for DRA, where log book and license plates were added on the way through Yei. With this positive development I feel confident that in time we can add more and more services to our delivery terms.
All in all I have good feelings about the future in South Sudan. The activity level is increasing in the aid and development and private sectors and I am sure that we with our present set-up are on track to follow the positive trend and perhaps be a step ahead.
Finally I would like to thank Airland and everyone within Kjaer Group who has been a part of setting up the Juba office. You have all done a great job.
Feel free to contact me for additional information: m.badstue@kjaer.com
