The Fiji Roads Authority has not been spared by the impacts of the deadly Coronavirus as their supply chain has been disrupted.[Source: Fiji Roads Authority]

The Fiji Roads Authority has not been spared by the impacts of the deadly Coronavirus as their supply chain has been disrupted.

Chief executive Jonathan Moore says initially they expected slowdown in supply of materials from last month, but the effects were being felt much earlier.

Moore says the COVID-19 crisis in other countries has impacted Fiji.

“There have been few delays in deliveries particularly in overseas deliveries. This was mainly steels, beams and plates and bridge parts.We have to understand that some of our materials comes from Australia, New Zealand and the US. All these countries have been severely affected by the virus right now and I think there is general slowdown in everybody’s shipping.”

Moore says they started taking preventative measures few months ago to cushion its effect.

“I think there will be knock on effects to some of the jobs in the start time but we cannot avoid that. our major issue now is that we need to maintain the network in a safe way and we are managing to do that right now and we will continue to do that.”

The Authority says there has been a general slowdown in their capital projects due to the impact of the pandemic on their supply chain.