Coral Coast to

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IN 1973, a massive fleet of earth-moving machines opened up more than seven miles of route for the long awaited new Fiji highway between Nadi and the Coral Coast. The project manager, Jack Clark, said sections of the highway were expected to be ready for traffic by the middle of 1974.

He said work was going ahead on schedule in spite of delays caused by shipping problems and high rainfall.

The $10 million 40-mile project was one of the world’s biggest road building operations.

It was reported in The Fiji Times on Tuesday, September 18, 1973 and was the first phase of an ambitious plan to replace the entire-surfaced Queens Rd between Suva and Nadi.

Dillingham Wilkins Green, an international consortium, began work on the first section from Cuvu in Nadroga in April.

Mr Clark said about 500,000 cubic yards of earthworks were completed and an average of 35,000 cubic yards of earth was moved every week.

The road surfacing program started at the end of September, 1973.

Gravel from the Tuva River and hard rock from a quarry at Semo in Nadroga were used and the road was sealed with imported bitumen shipped to Lautoka.

Mr Clark said the consortium would open up new sources of gravel as the project progressed.

“The Semo quarry would supply about half the requirement of crushed rock, This rock is difficult to locate,” he said.

Concrete for the work had begun on foundations for the 17 bridges involved in the first section.

“Some parts of the work had initial delays mainly due to shipping problems with the import of materials,” Mr Clark said.

“The materials have now mostly arrived and these initial delays are being overcome. We have a far wetter year than normal so far in this part of the island…this has not helped us a great deal. When you are working with earth, rainfall does cause delays.”

Records indicated that rainfall in the first part of the year was much greater than the average for the past 15 years.

The consortium had a total workforce of 269 including 218 locals.

“We have a policy of on the job training whereby we try to have the local people working with expatriates. We use special training programs when necessary.”

An example of this was that a driving instructor from Australia trained local drivers to operate big dumping trucks.