FRA:Media articles inaccurate

THE Fiji Roads Authority (FRA) has labelled recent media articles on deteriorating road conditions as “misinformation”.

In a statement released yesterday, the FRA said since many roads in the Central Division were constructed in the 1980s and 1990s, they had outlived their serviceable life.

The FRA said the standard life of a road was no more than 25 years.

“The serviceable life of roads in the Central Division has been further reduced because throughout the 30-plus years life to date, there has been little effort exerted to properly maintain any of the roads; with the result that deterioration is accelerating and we face the road condition situation that we are currently facing,” the statement said.

“Deterioration has also been accelerated through uncontrolled overloading for decades.

“The only way to significantly reduce the number and frequency of potholes is to reconstruct or rehabilitate whole sections of roads and then properly maintain them.

“In order to overcome this problem, the FRA is undertaking a road rehabilitation program (RRP) through the division that focuses on forming new roads that will then be properly maintained through the Road Maintenance Program for their entire serviceable life.”

The FRA said this should address the issue.

“This RRP has already started with the recent rehabilitation work on Princes Rd, Queens Rd Lami, Ratu Mara Rd and Ratu Dovi Rd, as well as the new roadworks along Kings Rd between Nakasi and Rewa Bridge,” the authority said.