Government is putting aside $4 million for the dredging of the Navua River and will spend around $60m further in dredging rivers around the country.
Ministry of Primary Industry permanent secretary, Mr Mason Smith, signed a Memorandum of Understanding today with the China Railway First Group (CRFG) Fiji Limited for the dredging of the Navua River.
“River dredging is a high socio-political issue for the Government as a flood mitigation strategy to reduce risks, and impacts of flooding.”
The project will be completed in six months and cost Government $4m in a bid to reduce flooding, an event that has caused massive damage to infrastructure and livelihood in Fiji.
“This is one of the solutions to flooding as it improves the discharge capacity at the river mouth as can be seen in the Rewa River, which is why it was able to absorb the floodwaters this time around,” Mr Smith said.
The Rewa River dredging was done by CRFG and the contract for Navua River was given to the same as they did the work within the budget and on time.
The project involves dredging of 2.94 kilometres of the river channel and removing approximately 500,000 cubic meters of sediments.
The dredging will result in increased flood discharge capacity, reduced flooding frequencies and duration, reclamation of additional land for village development, improve drainage and improve food security.
The President of CRFG, Mr Sun Yonggang, said the company treated all contracts, whether large or small, with utmost importance and thanked the Fiji Government for having faith in the company.
Mr Yong Gang asked the Government of Fiji and people of Navua to rest assured that they will deliver on time.
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