What PWD $50m Budget Request Could Have Done To Our Roads

In 1999, the then Public Works Department (PWD) had made a presentation to Government - that the department would need $50million annually to provide proper maintenance to roads around the country.

In that presentation, they had also stated clearly that if $50m was not allocated annually for roads maintenance, within a decade, our roads would be riddled with potholes and will not be in a state of rehabilitation.

They had also warned of a number of issues, which we are facing today with our roads. Did PWD receive the $50million it had requested? No. They received a mere fraction of it and as a result of not being given enough money to maintain our roads, today our roads are in deplorable conditions, beyond repair and requires complete redo.

How much were they given:

■ 1999: $16.2m

■ 2000: $23.3m

■ 2001: $23.1m

■ 2002: $25.4m

■ 2003: $24.6m

■ 2004: $26.4m

■ 2005: $28.8m

It was only after the Bainimarama Government came in, were allocation for road maintenance received a sharp increase. It was only after the Fiji Roads Authority (FRA) was formed that serious maintenance issues were addressed.

■ 2006: $38.07m

■ 2007: $34.2m

■ 2008: $49.05m

■ 2009: $55.1m

■ 2010: $60.7m

■ 2011: $59.7m

■ 2012: $57.7m

After FRA was formed, a thorough analysis of all our roads was done. FRA concurred with PWD’s findings that from 1999, at least $50m should have been allocated for road maintenance.

Consider this scenario: You know you need to repair and undertake maintenance of your house, but you do not do it for 20 years, wouldn’t the state of your house deteriorate rapidly and be left in a state of shambles? Our roads have very similar situation.

PWD was underfunded for more than 30 years. This meant that the roads that were built were not given the maintenance attention it needed. This is why the FRA has had a mammoth task of fixing our roads - purely because some of our roads are beyond

If the PWD had been funded adequately over the years, they would have been in a position to provide routine and periodic maintenance of our roads. That would have meant that our roads would not be in the condition they are in today.

repair.

If the PWD had been funded adequately over the years, they would have been in a position to provide routine and periodic maintenance of our roads. That would have meant that our roads would not be in the condition they are in today.

FRA’s budget under Fiji-First Government was increased, but that was done to cater for the neglect and poor maintenance for the previous 30 years.

PWD had also drawn up a graph in their presentation in which they had clearly shown what any allocation of less than $50m will mean to our roads in years to come. This was done in 1999. No one until the Bainimarama-Government took PWD’s recommendation seriously. And the state of our roads today is a result of that. PWD had rightly pointed out that in 20 years’ time, our roads would be beyond repair.