Road Diversion Poses Risk for Villagers
Dust, vehicle fumes and speeding vehicles raise safety concerns along Kings Road.
Matawailevu Village headman, Isaia Vonowale, has raised his concern that vehicles using the new gravel road running through the village poses a health risk to them.
He said the vehicles pass through with their speeding habit and create a lot of dust and fumes.
“Also, the road is quite steep. We are calling on the authorities to set up speed road humps and tar seal the road as well, because the kindergarten is near the road, so the students and teachers are also at risk,” Mr Vonowale said.
The recent Tropical Cyclone Bina caused a road under slip and this has forced the closure of the Kings Road between the Namarai Road and Matawailevu Road junctions respectively.
“It happened after Cyclone Bina. The soil slipped from the road near Matawailevu Village, and it has affected transportation since then, with the road now closed,” he said.
“The under slip has damaged the bridge and the culverts, so we have lodged a complaint with the authorities, but we are yet to receive a response.”
Provincial Administrator, Ra Elimi Rokoduru, said while the risk of communities in Matawailevu, Ra, being caught in landslides was low, however rainy weather conditions often caused under slips in the area.
“Matawailevu did not encounter a landslip but experienced an under slip or scour, which is a term used by engineers. This happens when water channels below the ground experience excessive water due
to heavy and continuous rainfall, which slowly breaks the bottom layers of the soil,” he said.
“In terms of landslips or an under slip in this case, nothing has been done so far, just because it is very isolated and risk level to our communities is very low or no risk at all. The main cause of landslips or under slips is due to continuous and excessive rainfall,” he said. Questions emailed to the Fiji Roads Authority (FRA) remained unanswered.