Truck drivers sent home
LOGGING truck drivers have been sent home and about 300 sawmill workers in Labasa could follow if the 10-tonne weight restriction on a bypass bridge outside town is not lifted.
This, according to sawmill operators in Labasa.
While commuters have thanked the Fiji Roads Authority (FRA) and Land Transport Authority (LTA) officials for monitoring vehicle weight crossing on the Laqere Bridge along the Tabia back road, the business community is up in arms over the issue.
Sawmillers have called on the FRA to allow trucks which exceed the 10-tonne restriction to cross the bridge –– the only connection between the bypass road and the Labasa-Savusavu highway.
Waiqele Sawmill Ltd director Feroz Begg said he would have to send home 216 workers if the restriction remained.
“Overloaded cane trucks have used this road and FRA didn’t do anything over the past years,” he said.
“We can’t bring in logs and we can’t send sawn timber to our clients so this is affecting our business and we have sent 10 truck drivers home. The FRA needs to open up that bridge so that our business can flow smoothly as we have families to feed and support and clients to supply timber to.”
Pinto Industries Ltd business consultant Viliame Jiuta said they were experiencing similar challenges.
“We now have to use smaller trucks but that has cost us more money because we have had to share the load of goods and even timber,” he said.
“LTA officials should guide us while crossing the bridge because offloading from one end of the bridge and loading on another bridge is very costly.”
Valebasoga Tropikboards Ltd director Muktar Ali said his business had also been affected.
FRA’s acting chief executive Kamal Prasad said the public, including sawmillers, would have to adhere to the weight restriction in place.