NANISE NEIMILA
An emotional 70yearold Enosi Navunicagi could not hold back his emotions as he witnessed the commissioning of two-foot bridges at Naivilaca, Noco Rewa last week.
“It has been a long time coming for us at the village, for me the two crossings will benefit our women and children especially since this place always gets flooded.”
“I am one of the elders in this village and to see our grandchildren struggle through the swampy crossings so we decided to build planks for the time being, however, due to heavy rain it would just then wash away.”
Mr Navunicagi commended the Fijian Government for their commitment towards providing better accessible foot bridges for those living in rural areas.
Minister for Agriculture, Rural and Maritime Development, Waterways and Environment Dr Mahendra Reddy said such initiatives are a national priority for the Government.
“The Government is committed towards improving the livelihoods of Fijians living in the rural and maritime areas. The $7,000 project will benefit close to 45 households and over 150 villagers.”
Minister Reddy reiterated the Fijian Government’s commitment towards the protection and development of rural and maritime communities for improved quality of life, highlighting public service delivery being brought to rural communities to address the disparity between rural and urban growth.
“Our Prime Minister noted that there was a lot of disparity in the growth and development in rural and maritime areas and urban areas with regards to the quality of health services, within the education sector, roads, water, electricity etc.”
“The quality of life in the rural and maritime area was much lower than what we had in an urban area and our Prime Minister decided that one of his objectives would be to ensure the quality of life for rural and maritime communities is improved,” he said.
Minister Reddy stressed that the underlying objective was to provide equal opportunities to all Fijians to ensure rural and maritime communities were part of the growth and development process.
“Therefore, it is important that we reach out to them and provide them with the basic infrastructure that will contribute towards their development and under this Government led by our Prime Minister we are working very hard to secure and improve the livelihoods of rural and maritime communities,” he stressed.
Minister Reddy further reiterated the need for villagers to safeguard their environment and refrain from the careless disposal of rubbish especially in the waterways which contribute to flooding during a heavy downpour.