The Lands Ministry is in the process of purchasing two drilling rigs from overseas suppliers to provide safe and portable water supply to Fijians living in rural areas.

Drilling rigs are machines used to drill a borehole for groundwater.

Lands Ministry, Permanent Secretary, Malakai Finau, has confirmed one of the drilling rig has already been ordered from Italy while the other is from Japan.

“The small drilling rig that we ordered and successfully bidder was a company from Italy which a local agent and the successful company for the big rid is the Japanese company and it’s in the finalization of a payment. We have to make an advanced payment as part of a procurement process.”

Finau says there is a great demand for boreholes in rural areas, however, one of the issues faced is the aged infrastructure and the need for new ones are paramount.