FRA spent about $35M/month in the past 18-months, but this has slowed down now - Prasad

Fiji Roads Authority CEO, Kamal Prasad says they were spending about $35 million a month in the past 18 months but have now slowed down to keep within the budget that has been given to them, however, there is no overspending.

Prasad says they are in discussions with the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Transport if additional money can be redeployed to them so they can maintain about $30 million a month spending.

He says there is a lot of work to be done and they want to continue doing it, but it all depends on how much the Ministry of Finance can redeploy to them.

He says the issue of overspending is coming up because they have spent 65 percent of their budget in the first 4 or 5 months of this financial year, but the weather was good, the industry had the capacity and they were getting good value for money.

Prasad says their team has worked hard with the contractors to reduce the cost of doing business and to come up with innovative ideas of doing things to reduce the cost.

The FRA is expected to complete the Queens Road Upgrade Project around May this year, the Foster Road Project around July, the Kings Roads Upgrade Project by the end of next year, the Queen Elizabeth Drive Upgrade Project by September this year while the Waidalice Bridge in Korovou is expected to be completed in April, 2025. FRA has been allocated $376.7 million in the 2022/23 National Budget of which $362.9 million is for capital works programme.