The new Khartoum … as my interlocutor said ..! – The face of the truth – ✍️ Ibrahim Shaqlawi
When the government clearly offers its vision and determines its priorities and its major projects, it opens the door to an optimistic and confident environment, and stimulates the private sector to invest in an effective investment, because it ignites the enthusiasm of citizens who seek to rebuild Khartoum on modern and sustainable foundations.
Such a declaration, like my friend Al -Bashm, engineer Mahmoud Hussein, represents the start of a new stage of partnership and integration between the State, the private sector and the Sudanese society, in order to transform Khartoum into an urban and economic model worthy of the history of Sudan and its position.
The decision of Lieutenant-General Ibrahim Jaber, president of the reconstruction committee to transfer the government institutions of the center of Khartoum, is the announcement of the end of the old Khartoum and the start of the formation of a new city with a different identity. It is an indirect invitation to re-imagine the capital, as a new opportunity to rebuild from the roots.
Khartoum as we knew; The question is no longer: where will the head office move? But: Who will write the next page in the story of Khartoum? Leave us expatriates, or do we get up to engrave our names in the next Khartoum roads? In my opinion, the national capital is in front of the time of tests, either to settle for the role of the witness, or to make the future.
The reconstruction of Khartoum is not only an engineering process for the restoration of buildings, bridges and roads destroyed by war. Rather, it is a project for a complete re-establishment that aims at heart and to redefine the city. It is the reconstruction of confidence between the citizen and the state, and the rearrangement of the relationship between society and businessmen. Let’s say: reformulate Khartoum as a city, economy, society and dream.
After the years of war, the capital is at a crossroads: either it returns to its past with its crises, or to start in a new project in which the private sector puts its brand with conscience adapting to its national role.
The state today is no longer able to carry the burden of reconstruction. Consequently, the private sector must go beyond its traditional roles and go from a recipient or a supporter to a strategic and main partner of the reconstruction epic. This can only be achieved with a clear strategic vision that determines the roles and opens the way to real participation in investment and implementation.
In this context, the private sector can transform into an effective force that makes the wheel of the economy move and revives the main national projects, by investing in health, education and infrastructure, taking advantage of the international experiences that have been successful, such as Lebanon, Rwanda and Egypt. Khartoum deserves to be built with our hands, our minds and our common national will.
In Sudan, we have a huge private sector, various and deep roots. D Dal Groub, Al -Barir, Al -Nafidi, Al -Barajoub, Al -jahleh, Murtada Moaz, Sheikh Mustafa Al -Amin and other hundreds of companies operating in agriculture, industry, infrastructure, communications, transport, financing and medical and educational services.
What is necessary today are not seasonal donations, but rather structural participation in the construction of the capital, through specialized sectoral alliances. Construction companies undertake the rehabilitation of roads, bridges and neighborhoods, and the technology sector builds the digital structure, agriculture and the food industries creates production and distribution complexes, while the health sector leads to the creation of hospitals, education builds universities and professional centers, and financial companies that provide funding for small and medium -sized businesses.
These are not utopian ideas, but rather proven models. In Beirut, after the Civil War, Solidre Company in the center of the capital is a revival for life in partnership between the State and the private sector. In Rwanda, Kigali has been rebuilt through national commercial initiatives to become one of Africa’s cities with the fastest growth. In Egypt, the private sector has transformed into a large partner – Talaat Mustafa- in the main national projects, new cities with electrical networks and industrial complexes, thanks to a vision of the clear government.
Despite the different contexts, the message is the same: the national capital can be the construction branch, if it has a clear environment and specific tasks, while recognizing its role in the yield.
As Madhdi said: in Sudan, according to the face of the truth, we do not lack capital, and we do not miss businesses, but we do not have the collective will to design an intelligent partnership in reconstruction. The homeland is not only built on bricks and iron, but also on partnership and mutual recognition between capital, power and society. The government is required for the government to declare its vision and its detailed card to rebuild Khartoum through various media, so that it is a complete national declaration which stimulates the private sector, reassures the citizen and the birth of a new modern and sustainable city is launched.
You are fine and well.
