The mistakes of previous governments and former leaders is costing a lot more for the government today says Civil Aviation Minister Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum.

He says the government has had to fork out more money now to construct and renovate infrastructure as previous governments lacked the vision to think beyond.

Sayed-Khaiyum adds some former leaders did not think outside the box that one day big aircrafts will land at some of our airports, hence, they constructed small runways.

“We can give you numerous examples where airports have been built previously where the leaders at that time did not think we could have larger aircrafts so we need longer runways. We have for example in Labasa a runway that’s built between the bend of a river but there’s flat land at the other side of the river. If only they had chosen land at the other side of the river today, we would have a much longer runway in Labasa. We now as a result of the lack of vision have to find land somewhere else to build a brand new airport.”

Sayed-Khaiyum says all the changes in infrastructure that Fijians are seeing now are being driven by the vision of Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama.

To create a modern nation state that has stability, equality and security incorporated into it has driven all this changes.

The Civil Aviation Minister says it’s also important for the government to develop partnerships and think long term to benefit the country and all Fijians.