Plans on for railway around the country to be upgraded.

The railway network around the country will be improved to assist cane farmers in transporting cane to the mills.

Minister for Sugar Charan Jeath Singh says the rail network is the cheapest form of cane transportation and it needs to be improved.

Poor maintenance of the rail network over the past years has seen cane farmers no longer using the rail to transport their cane, and they are paying much more to use cane lorries.

Sugar Minister, Charan Jeath Singh. 

Singh goes on to say that cane lorry transportation has become prohibitively expensive for the majority of farmers who live the furthest away from the mills.

He says a study was done by the Indian government on the railway network, and they are willing to assist Fiji in its improvement.

“By 2023 we get all the railway system all in place and by 2024 it will be in full blast.”

The study by the Indian Government sets out the improvement work that needs to be done as well as the cost of the work.