O’Connor: PM helps secure bus deal
The announcement of the buses was made late last year but the delay was in shipment because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The buses arrived in April but it’s now registered and cleared before the handover ceremony
The new buses will be used by our national rugby teams in transporting them to their training venues, says Fiji Rugby Union chief executive officer John O’Connor.
“The cost of the buses is between $300,000 to $400,000 so we are grateful to the People’s Republic of China and the province of Guandong for their kind donation,” he said.
“It will be used by our national teams that is in camp.
“If it’s the sevens teams they’ll use the smaller one while the big one is for the fifteens teams. At times when there’s clash of camps will use both.
REDUCE COSTS
O’Connor said the donation has definitely eased FRU’s transportation costs.
“So after looking at the costs of transportation for FRU it’s about $500,000 to $600,000 that is the hiring of buses every year as we have so many teams in camp.
“So the board approached the president of FRU and Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama to see if he can try to get a sponsorship for the new buses.
“We approached the bus companies but we understand they also have challenges as well o he approached the Chinese Ambassador and they were willing to help Fiji rugby.”
O’Connor said the announcement of the buses was made late last year but the delay was in shipping because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
‘The buses arrived in April but we had it registered and cleared before the handover ceremony,” he added.