The dredging of the Rewa River by the China Railway First Group Fiji Limited is on target for completion by April next year.
Company Project Manager Mr. Song Tian Peng said that to date they have dredged 470,000 cubic metres of spoils starting from the river mouth and moving inland.
“We are quite optimistic that the pace we are going will make us successfully complete the dredge in the mentioned time frame”, Mr. Song said.
The dredging which began in August this year will involve the dredging of about 12 kilometres of river channel and removing over 1,200,000 m3 (cubic meters) of soil. The project costs about $8.9 million.
Director LWRM Mr Mudaliar (middle) with Mr Song (right) at the Laucala Island Dumpsite
“We have two shifts of 10 workers per shift working an average of 21 hours a day and so far everything is progressing according to schedule”.
“We have a total of 19 staff working on the Rewa River Dredging project and eight of them are local”.
Government had started dredging the Rewa River in the 1980’s and the decision to recommence dredging was made due to the frequencies and intensity of flooding that has occurred in recent years. The improvement of the Rewa River System is a Government priority with the people of Rewa and Tailevu Provinces as the major beneficiaries when completed in terms of reduced flood risks and improved land fertilities.
Mr. Song said that dredged materials from the River were currently being dumped at an approved dumpsite on the island of Laucala. Laucala is one of the nine approved dumpsites for the project.
The company was using a dredger that they bought especially for the project from China. Named the “Dong Ting No. 4” after a famous river in China, the dredger is a voracious eater as it cuts, swallows and carries the dredged material from mid channel through pipes and spews them out through a funnel about 800 metres away on the Laucala dump site.
“This dredger is capable of dredging 400 to 450 cubic metres of soil an hour and need six operators on board to run it while the other four members of the shift are at the dump site to ensure that things are running smoothly at their end”.
“A bund has been constructed on the foreshore of the dumpsite to ensure that dredged materials are not washed away during heavy rains or floods”.
When launching the project in August this year, the Minister for Primary Industries Mr. Joketani Cokanasiga had said that the completion of the dredging works will ensure the increase in the flood discharge capacity of the river system, thus reduce flooding.
The soil removed as a result of the dredging exercise will be used for reclaim additional land for nearby village for their development and the dredging of the Rewa River will also improve the drainage network efficiency in the low lying areas.
Mr. Cokanasiga said the improved drainage as a result of dredging will also improve health and sanitation significantly through the reduction of water tables in the delta areas and dredged soil will also be used to improve rural roading and roading networks”.
In addition dredging will improve the fertility of land through improved drainage to farm lands which in turn will result in better crop yield and contribute to food security.