Roads

Huge progress made on road infrastructure

February 6, 2022 4:15 pm

The Fijian Government has made huge progress in constructing, maintaining, and upgrading our road infrastructure over the years says Acting Prime Minister, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum.

He made the comments while rejecting claims by People’s Alliance Party Leader, Sitiveni Rabuka on the ‘Sashi Singh Talking Point’ show that the FijiFirst government has neglected rural roads and only focused on making fancy roads in urban centres.

Sayed-Khaiyum says by making such unsubstantiated comments, politicians like Rabuka are losing their credibility.

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Carrying on from the recent interview where he accused Fijis former Prime Minister and President Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara of having prior knowledge and supporting his 1987 coup, Sitiveni Rabuka has made a whole range of allegations and claims, especially about the current government.

“We have spent a lot of money on maintaining good-looking roads from the airport to the hotels. How much has been the return on that? How much have the cane farming roads suffered during their term?”

However, Sayed-Khaiyum says the infrastructure speaks for itself.

“What’s so fancy about the roads in Nadi? A two-lane road now is a four-lane road and it’s called a fancy road. Please ask the people who travel between Nadi and Lautoka. Please ask the tourism operators who use that road. Please ask the ordinary Fijians who actually use that road. It’s not a fancy road.”

The acting Prime Minister says many roads had been neglected by past governments, including Rabuka’s, for decades. But he says the FijiFirst Government has ensured that work has been carried out to upgrade many roads in rural communities since it formed government.

“We were in the Wainunu Bay area. We had people thanking the government for building and putting up new crossings, new bridges that had been neglected for decades, some of them since colonial times. Rabuka should go and look at Cakaudrove, all the changes that have taken place there. See it’s great for him to go and make some statement with some guy who now lives in Sydney, but the ground reality is completely different.”

Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum adds that the Valley Road in Sigatoka is now tar sealed and farmers are able to transport their produce to markets very easily.

He says most villages on King’s Road now have street lights and people are able to sell their produce in the evenings.

“Notwithstanding that this is the amount of development that has taken place and you have these kinds of comments made by this politician. That is why people who are actually on the ground level are beginning to distrust them. Losing their credibility there.”

Sayed-Khaiyum also highlights that Fiji experienced 13 cyclones since 2016 which affected our infrastructure.

He says it is not about making fancy roads but ensuring that Fijians are equally assisted.