FELIX LESINAIVALLU
Rehabilitation of an entire road instead of fixing pot-holes is the main goal the Government is trying to achieve.
This was highlighted by the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Disaster Management and Meteorological Services Jone Usamate when speaking on issues affecting roads and bridges.
“For road repairs we have already outlined in the budget which roads will be rehabilitated.”
According to the 2019-2020 budget, the total budget for the Fiji Roads Authority (FRA) is $419.4 million of which $19.7 million is for operating expenditure and $399.8 million for capital expenditure.
Out of the capital expenditure, $60 million has been allocated for an ongoing maintenance programme which will enable FRA to continue to proactively preserve Fiji’s road assets.
A sum of $36.1 million is provided for renewals and replacement of roads, while $62.4 million is allocated for the upgrade and replacement of bridges and crossings. Minister Usamate also said, “The other thing that we want to focus on is the materials we use to make the roads.”
“Roads are legacy issues, they have been built long ago and at the same time we have to control the weight of vehicles moving on the roads and if we don’t control that it will continue and make the situation worse.”
“They need to meet a critical standard. In the past we have used a lot of river gravel but now we want more crushed metal and that will be a major focus for Government.”
Minister Usamate highlighted that 15 bridges are the main priority to be fixed this year, however, more than 100 bridges around Fiji needs to be fixed.
“Because a lot of the bridges have been built many years ago, lots of overweight lorries have gone over the bridges and now Government has the target to fix the most urgent ones.”
Minister Usamate said that prioritising which bridges needs fixing depends on the Fiji Roads Authority and their engineers during their assessment of the bridges they choose which is most important for Fiji.
“It is creating some problems in terms of traffic but we know it has to be done.”
“So it will take some time because we have to look for so