Authority gives timeline for works on Suva’s major roads

The Fiji Roads Authority (FRA) will work on the rehabilitation of six roads in the greater Suva area over the next 12 months.

FRA acting chief executive officer Kamal Prasad confirmed the expected timeline of the project yesterday.

This follows a number of complaints raised on the increasing number of deteriorating road conditions in the Suva area.

The six roads include Amy Street,

Brown Street, Milverton Road, Ratu Mara Road, Ratu Sukuna Road and Waimanu Road.

He said due to the rectification of the deteriorating road conditions, they had removed the six roads from the scope of the Suva Arterial Road Upgrading Project 2 (SARUP 2) contract.

SARUP 2 was to rehabilitate 17 seriously deteriorated roads within the greater Suva area.

However, the contract was terminated in November 2019 because the contractor, Guizhou Road and Bridge Company, showed no signs of improvement with the worsening road conditions.

“We have removed these six roads from the SARUP 2 contract and they will be rehabilitated with long-term works,” Mr Prasad said. “This will probably be taking place over the next 12 months,” he said.

“These contracts will be delivered through the existing arrangement between the Ministry of Economy, Asian Development Bank and World Bank.

“The remaining 11 Road-sections under SARUP 2 will be retained within three rescoped SARUP 2 contracts, whose composition is related to logistics and the need to minimise congestion and disruption around Suva.”

He said the delivery of these contracts should be completed by the beginning of 2022.

“In addition to these works and outside of the SARUP 2 contracts, we are also planning to carry out major, long-term rehabilitation later in 2020 on Fletcher Road, Nokonoko Road and sections of the road between Nabalebale and Savusavu” Mr Prasad said.