Infrastructure Minister, Jone Usamate [Source: Fijian Government]

For the last five years government has invested around $163 million in the Rural Electrification Project.

Infrastructure Minister, Jone Usamate revealed this in parliament – while clarifying the provision of electricity to farmers in the rural areas.

From the invested amount, $92.8 million was paid to EFL for grid extension.

Usamate says there are projects currently ongoing, however, works are bound to be affected because of the many challenges they face.

The Minister adds that there are not enough contractors to carry out the Rural Electrification Project.

“One other major challenge that we have is that there is not a lot of contractors that meet the requirements of EFL, for safe we don’t want any tom, dick and harry just to come in and do the wiring and all of a sudden something blows up.”

Usamate says there is also a challenge of acquiring land and the timely delivery of materials.