The water project for the Sawanikula Village has been delayed due to COVID-19 and while the Water Authority of Fiji have already engaged an external contractor, work still cannot proceed until the contract has been finalised and handed over.
WAF Chief Operating Officer, Seru Soderberg says Sawanikula Village is covered as part of their outsourced projects and works are scheduled to commence in 2022.
He says the project will consist of the development of a dam on a new catchment, the construction of a Ferro cement tank, trenching, pipelaying, and the installation of service connections for 50 standpipes and showers.
Soderberg adds once the project commences, barring any major weather conditions or other unforeseen circumstances that may delay works, they are estimating a timeline of at least 16 weeks for completion.
He says for Waibasaga Village, their teams have not received any request for a survey to be conducted from the village and neither are they aware of the residents facing any issues.
Soderberg says they encourage the residents to raise and highlight the issue to the Roko Tui’s Office or the Provincial Administrator’s Office first, which is the proper channel to follow with regard to requests for developments within a respective area, who will then pass it on to their teams.
He reminded members of the public that for the rural projects, the Authority is only an implementing agency and the operation and maintenance of the facilities is the responsibility of the individual water committees.
