‘Crossing under water only during king tides’
$10-15m to fix roads
THE Fiji Roads Authority has clarified that the crossing at Bouma on Taveuni is only affected during king tides.
FRA’s acting chief executive Sonal Goundar said the crossing was also a low-level crossing.
“This crossing is only inundated during king tides and adverse weather conditions but is usually accessible when the weather is good,” he said.
“The crossing is a lowlevel crossing and is expected to be flooded when the river bursts its banks.
“The existing structure needs to be replaced with something similar to the current Waibula Crossing on Taveuni.”
Mr Goundar said the Bouma, crossing also known as Nakabuta crossing, was already part of FRA’s 39 priority crossings replacement program for the North in the next four years.
Last week Taveuni Buses
Limited CEO Prakash Sami claimed the lives of passengers and his drivers were at risk when buses crossed the bridge at Bouma.
“Every day during high tide, this crossing goes under water and my drivers are risking their lives,” Mr Sami had said.
FIJI Roads Authority chief executive officer Kamal Prasad says between $75 million and $100m worth of roads in the country are deteriorated.
He said bringing them back to some level of service would require anywhere between $10m or $15m.
“And that’s what we have got in our budget at the moment,” he said at a press conference last Wednesday.
“In this round of rainy season that started in December, the majority of our unsealed roads have been badly impacted and some sealed roads too.
“We did a little bit of work in Suva and we are moving out to Nausori towards Lami and also to the Queens Rd along Mango Bay Resort.
“And from Yako Village in Nadi, going towards Lautoka, the sealed roads are also deteriorated.”
Mr Prasad said rehabilitation work would begin once the weather was favourable.
“It’s part of our program and as soon as rain goes away we will start upgrading them similar to what we have done in Suva.
“Similarly, inside Nadi Town there’s a few road maintenance works left and some in Lautoka.
“So this is a continuous operation of routine and periodic maintenance.”