School students residing within Droca Settlement in Labasa will now not have to worry about riding on horsebacks to access bus services during adverse weather conditions.
This follows the recent completion of the Droca Settlement Access Road Project.
The project involved the upgrading of the 1km road to provide a safe and good condition for members of the public. The project was funded by Government under the Ministry of Rural and Maritime Development and Disaster Management’s Community Access Roads, Footpaths and Footbridges (CARFF) Programme at a cost of $49,632.
Droca Settlement resident Mr Mohammed Kaiyum said the assistance rendered by the Ministry towards the upgrade of the settlement’s road was like a “dream come true”.
Mr Kaiyum said this was because the 16 families living in the settlement had been looking forward to this for years.
“During the rainy season, our children used to face a lot of difficulties because the old road used to be muddy and slippery. As a result, they had to travel on horses to get to the main road,” Mr Kaiyum said.
“Before, we had to at least walk for 30 minutes to get to main road. If it was raining, then it would take almost an hour for us to reach the main road. Also for the elderly people, going to town was like a mammoth task because of the road condition.”
“Farmers also used to have difficulties in taking their produce to the market. We have to either use bullocks or horses to transport our farm produce to town. It was a mammoth task and used to take up a lot of time.”
However, all these hassles are no more after the completion of the road upgrade.
“The new road has greatly helped a lot of us. Majority of the homes here now own cars. It has eased the burden for the elderly members when they go to town to collect their social welfare assistacne and now we also have RSL services coming to the settlement and our children are also able to reach school on time. For mothers, they can now easily go to Labasa to access medical services.”
Mr Kaiyum acknowledged the Ministry and said the assistance was a testament of the commitment by Government in ensuring that rural Fijians had the same level of access to infrastructure as enjoyed by those in urban areas.
“The Ministry did a wonderful task. It’s like a dream true. We never thought it would ever be done. Luckily we got this opportunity. This is a testament of the commitment by Government that people in rural areas also have good roads like those in towns,” he added.
A total of 16 families will benefit from the project.
Minister for Rural and Maritime Development and Disaster Management Hon. Inia Seruiratu said the Ministry was pleased to be able to fulfill its role and provide another rural community with an improved means of access to their homes.
“We hope this access road will help improve livelihoods in the settlement of Droca and also open up new markets and more developments for its residents in the years to come,” Hon. Seruiratu said.