The Fiji Roads Authority is allocated a budget of $387.6 million while the coalition government has also re-established the Public Works Department (PWD) to improve the state of rural roads around the country with an initial setup cost of $5 million.
While delivering the 2023/2024 National Budget, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Professor Biman Prasad says they are going to change the approach towards the planning, construction and maintenance of our roads.
He says in the last eight years, a total of around $3.1 billion was spent by FRA without any strategic plan, without much priority and without proper costing.
Prof. Prasad further says this compromised the standard of infrastructure including roads and led to significant wastage of public funds.
He says they need to do more with less money.
The Deputy Prime Minister further says they need to improve the value for money as there has been a lot of wastage and funding of “novelty type” over designed expensive roads in Fiji.
He says the new FRA Board is fully in sync with this and they have been working closely with the Government to rethink some of the scoping and design works, rethink about the modalities of awarding road contracts, including closer monitoring and supervision of contractors.
The Finance Minister further says there is also a need to open up and encourage the participation of local contractors through direct contracting for smaller contracts.
Prof. Prasad further says major emphasis is being placed on the need to ensure adequate maintenance of Fiji’s road network and as such an increased allocation of $100.6 million is allocated for road maintenance, $42.0 million for completed maintenance and emergency works, $60 million is provided for the renewal and resurfacing of roads, $35.4 million is allocated for completion of the ongoing bridge projects, $18.3 million for the rural roads programme, $13.2 million for the upgrade of Queen Elizabeth Drive, and $82.2 million for the Transport Infrastructure.
He says the Investment Sector Project is financed through the Asian Development Bank and World Bank loans of US$100 million and US$50 million, respectively.
The Finance Minister further says the Ministry of Public Works, Meteorological Service and Transport is allocated a sum of $98.3 million.
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