Labasa Town Begins to Work on Drain Issues
LIf the culverts are blocked due to silt then the council will clean the same and where the sizes of culverts are inadequate then it would be replaced with bigger culverts with the help of Fiji Roads Authority. Ami Kholi Labasa Town Council Special Administrator
abasa Town Council has begun works to fix the drainage problems in the town. Council special administrator, Ami Kohli, said despite not having the master plan it is a matter of practical approach.
He said the council had taken two university engineering students to identify the water flow in all the drains in town.
We will then look where the blockages are and what the causes of blockages are.
“If the culverts are blocked due to silt then the council will clean the same and where the sizes of culverts are inadequate then it would be replaced with bigger culverts with the help of Fiji Roads Authority,” Mr Kohli said.
He said even if the council fixed the drains, the problem of flooding would not be solved unless and the Labasa River was dredged.
“Some 30 years ago, the high tide
level was almost where the present low tide level is,” he said.
“This is because of heavy silting in the river. As a result of this the river water flows back into the drains during the high tide.
“At times it flows into the botani
cal gardens.”
Mr Kohli said this was evident when looking at the riverbanks, the big trees that were surrounded by the rivers were slowly falling into the river because the roots were wet and had become weak.
“We are encouraging people to plant trees so we can protect the trees that were planted many years ago,” he added.