Standing Committee on Natural Resources.

The long-term solution to address severe soil erosion affecting the site at Vunidawa Hospital in Naitasiri is to carry out river diversion.

According to the Ministry of Waterways, a detailed survey has been carried out, but the project is on hold due to a land issue.

It says a consultation with landowners needs to be carried out.

Ministry’s senior technical officer, Inosi Nabuka, says vetiver seedlings were supplied to District Office Naitasiri to be planted along the river bank close to the hospital.

“Once vetiver grass is established there is 100 percent certainty that it will hold the soil together. Some places as proof the vetiver grass was planted along the riverside since the Girmit times. Since then that portion of the land is still at its original location, whereas downstream, where there was no vetiver, it has eroded.”

The Ministry of Waterways today made a submission to the Standing Committee on Natural Resources on its 2017-2018 annual report.

Meanwhile, a new vetiver grass nursery has been commissioned to help mitigate climate change factors for vulnerable communities in the Western Division.