The governor of South Sudan’s Lol state has devolved all household taxes to county authorities, saying the taxes should be channeled to development purposes, a state official has said.

Lol state minister of local of government Anei Anei Juach told Radio Tamazuj that more than 18 million South Sudanese Pounds were given back to county authorities who have been tasked with construction of county headquarters.

Anei said the state government introduced 200 SSP taxes with the sole aim of ensuring citizens make a contribution towards development in their localities.

“This money was collected and the governor of Lol state comrade Rizik Zacharia, has given a clear directive that any amounts collected from household and pull taxes must be used for construction of county offices, if it lacks permanent building. There are some of the counties which have reached level of beam, some are at foundation level and others are about to start. For the case of the former counties Gok Machar, Nyamlel and Raga have selected a different project,” he explained.

The minister added that 18,751,306 SSPs was distributed to the 13 counties depending on how much was collected as tax. The counties include Marial Baai, Korok West, Malual North, Athok Thou, Majak Baai, Gumjuer East and Gumjuer West among others.