Cakaudrove roads

Timoci Gaunavinaka, Waila, Nausori

The Government has spent huge resources on our roads and rightly so. This is the main transportation link for our people on the land enabling us to access various services for our development, progress and survival. I have driven through many parts of Viti Levu including the deep interiors of Naitasiri, Ba, Ra, Serua and Namosi. Although some roads in these areas will need upgrades which I believe are already in our Government’s future plans, none is more urgent than some of the roads on the South Eastern coast of Cakaudrove.

After leaving the comfort of the Hibiscus Highway at Kasavu, there are a handful of places where the road is so narrow and very rugged which can be widened and have their surface improved.

At Bagasau, we might as well remove the cracked tar sealed road and turn it to gravel. The huge potholes between the junction to Drekeniwai and Vunimokosoi junction forces vehicles to weave their way like a snake disregarding the existing traffic laws.

But I feel that the biggest threat of all is the coconut trees sung by Laisa Vulakoro “O Na’obo o Na’obo….. vei niuniu e batini wa’olo” (so many coconut trees along the edges of the road). Many of these coconut trees are more than 20 metres high and their upper reaches are vertically in the middle of the road.

We are not talking about five or 10 coconut trees here. There are hundreds of them from Bagasau, Buca, Tukavesi, Kanakana, Koroivonu and right up to Karoko.

Imagine if one of those coconuts falling from over 20 metres high hit the windscreen of a passing vehicle?

I beg the hierarchy of the Fiji Roads Authority to please visit these places, do your own assessment and remove the risks that may threaten the lives of our people.