USAMATE PRIORITISES TRANSPORT, WATER FOR DRAUBUTA VILLAGERS
The village was recently hit by a sand and soil avalanche after continuous rains.
Jone Usamate says he will be talking with Government agencies to look at long-term and immediate measures for Draubuta Village in Navosa. The village was recently hit by a sand and soil avalanche after continuous rains.
The Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Disaster Management and Meteorological Services, made his visit to the village on Monday. Mr Usamate saw firsthand the damage that the natural disaster had caused and listened to the villagers’ plight and their immediate needs and concerns.
Deputy turaga-ni-koro, Mereseini Naola told Mr Usamate that water and transport were at the top of their concerns.
“We notified him about the main thing which is the water supply in the village, especially the number of households in our Village has increased to 69 houses, 82 families and the population now is 395 from 384,” she said.
“It takes about one hour for us to take water to our houses to be stored for the whole day then we have to wait for the next morning to get water again.
“Another issue is the road for the school students. They are involved in pulling the truck and it has been happening for four weeks now during the rainy season especially students from Bainimarama Vatutoko Primary School and Nuikoro District School.
“We also raised another issue on the families that were affected during the landslide.”
Mr Usamate said: “I’m glad to hear that the Government agencies have been here and Fiji Roads Authority (FRA) has made sure that the contractor who is doing work here is taking some of the sand out. Some of the sand has been put down in the river.
“The discussions have been very good discussions, good suggestions have been discussed about the road, what needs to be done about the road, about their water sources, they also talked about the need for housing, some of the housing may change but that’s something that needs to be discussed and the course of the water, where the water runs. “The water goes right under the hall, the natural flow of the water, so all of these things need to be relooked at.
“We will need to look at some longterm measures, what needs to be done at the same time if people are not having enough food and those sorts of things the Government can do that.
“I will be taking up some of these issues to the relevant Ministries, like the Ministry of Waterways looking at diverting the way that the water runs or strengthening the way that it currently runs, we also