Upgrading the capital city’s entire transport network will cost taxpayers just a little over a billion dollars.
This will see the Lami, Suva, Nasinu and Nausori areas developing a fully integrated and sustainable transport system.
The good news for taxpayers though is that this planned billion dollar project will spread out over the next two decades
A survey conducted by road stakeholders reveal that between 2014 and 2030, peak hour traffic along the busy Kings Road will increase by 22%.
In turn that will also increase travel times by 25%.
A planned new Greater Suva Plan aims to help ease traffic congestion in and around the capital city.
“One of the things we found was that with our review was that only about 50% of the projects or the planned improvements that were developed in that earlier study had come to fruition. We certainly hope what we put together now can be the basis for something that gets more traction than that,” said Neil Cook, the Chief Executive Officer of the Fiji Roads Authority.
But changes wont happen overnight and investing into it is a long term one – spanning the next 15 to 20 years.
It’s pitched as a 15 year strategy that might be 15 years or 20 years. There is around 1.6 billion dollars worth of projects. They are not all construction projects. Some of it is around more enforcement of existing relations, development of new regulations and so on,” he explained.
But its not just motorists or residents that will benefit.
The economic spin offs for our local contractors will also be huge.
“I mentioned earlier the local contractors starting to really understand what competitive open transparent tendering process is all about and they are responding to that but that’s going to be an ongoing of generally lifting the capability and capacity across the sector, said Cook.
And while foreign contractors will still be required, the FRA says local contractors also stand to gain.
“We expect to see structured training programs. We expect to see development pathways for people that can take from being a laborer on the end of a broom up through to the management level of the company if they are good enough and they got the desire. So that’s one of the keys to us. It’s not so much where the head office of the company is. It’s how they run their Fijian business and how they are treating the Fijians that they are employing. How they are training and improving them and generally helping this country get to a point where more and more of the work can be done by local contractors,”he added.
A long term project, the economic benefits likely to last even longer.