Bala Tells FRA to Seek Info from Residents
‘They will find out vital and critical information on important issues such as the flow of the water, flood-prone areas’
The Fiji Roads Authority (FRA) has been instructed to seek information from residents in flood-prone areas to help it in decision-making when carrying out repairs to damaged infrastructure. Minister for Local Government, Environment, Housing, Infrastructure and Transport Parveen Bala said this should be the approach FRA takes when places become flooded after heavy rains.
“By doing this, they will find out vital and critical information from these residents on important issues such as the flow of the water, where it came from and where it would flow to, which areas flooded quickly and which roads would get flooded first.
“All this information is vital especially when they carry out repairs to the roads. They could probably devise something that would lessen the impact of floods hitting the area again. “So I have instructed FRA to go and speak to these residents and get as much information as they can.” Mr Bala has just completed a tour of Lautoka, Ba, Tavua and Vatukoula inspecting as many damaged Irish crossings and small bridges as he could. His tour also checked on the damaged approach to some of these crossings. Mr Bala and his team, included staff members from his Ministry and a team from FRA yesterday. They inspected the damage done to the Qalele crossing in Tavua, the Nasomo Crossing at the back of the gold mines and the Paipai Vitogo crossing in Lautoka. He said he was pleased with the work being carried out to restore access to these areas. Mr Bala was particularly concerned with the Paipai Vitogo Irish Crossing which was washed away. “I have asked FRA to come up with a solution and they have promised to give a feedback by the end of the week. “My main concern is for people to be allowed to move around normally and especially for school children to be able to attend school without having these damaged crossings being the obstacle preventing them from doing so.” Mr Bala said he would be returning to the Western Division in a week to check on the progress of the work.
All this information is vital especially when they carry out repair to the roads. They could probably devise something that would lessen the impact of floods hitting the area again. Parveen Bala Minister for Local Government, Environment, Housing, Infrastructure and Transport