Fiji’s ageing water infrastructure – some pipes are 101 years old

As our ageing water infrastructure continues to create havoc on thousands of residents, it has been revealed that some areas have water pipes that are 101 years old.

Minister for Public Works, Ro Filipe Tuisawau says he is focusing on how they budget on water and roads infrastructure making it more climate resilient, and tap into climate financing.

He is also looking at urgent road repairs based on their strategy.

Ro Filipe has also apologised for saying that human stupidity caused the damage to the main water line at Princes Road last week that affected thousands of residents.

He says he should not have said that as the Water Authority of Fiji and the Fiji Roads Authority are looking at all the procedures and processes in terms of cabling and excavations.

The Minister says he is also asking for an incident report on whether these authorities are using technology like the Geographic Information System (GIS) which is a computer system that analyzes and displays geographically referenced information.