May 23, 2013

$60m for road fix

Luke Rawalai
Thursday, May 23, 2013

APPROXIMATELY 500 kilometres of unsealed road in the North needs maintenance.

And Fiji Roads Authority chief executive officer Neil Cook says upgrading these unsealed roads will cost $60million over time.

Mr Cook said road contractor Black Top was responsible for prioritising maintenance projects and could not address all the neglect immediately.

"For the first five months of this year the contractor has been in a very reactive mode of operation due to the poor state of the roads," Mr Cook said.

"The road conditions are so poor to begin with that every time it rains they turn to mud and slush.

"What needs to happen is for work to be programmed in a structured way so that sections of road are upgraded based on an objective priority."

Mr Cook said over time they would gradually bring the whole network to an acceptable and sustainable standard.

"FRA has a significant budget to carry out maintenance and upgrade works and these must be prioritised across the whole of Fiji.

"In the case of the North's unsealed roads, $120,000 per km multiplied by 500km of road is around $60million, so it must be understood that we cannot do it all in one year."

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