THE Government needs to assess the needs, plans for the infrastructure, and the financing, says the Minister for Public Works, Meteorological Services and Transport Ro Filipe Tuisawau.
Ro Filipe was responding to questions from the media regarding the challenges that the nation is currently facing in terms of upgrading its water infrastructure despite the investments that have gone into the Water Authority of Fiji.
“So that is what is in the water plan 2050, and it will cost approximately $8.7billion to fulfil that and it cannot be solved in one term of government in four years but you, or whoever comes into government, will need to work on it on an incremental basis,” he said.
Ro Filipe said one of the priorities is solving the sewer water issue.
“We have brought forward the Tamavua infrastructure project and the complementary Tamavua water treatment compact plan.
“So those are in progress, it was standard, and now already awarded, and they’re working on that. So that’s the example of what I’m saying, you solve it incrementally, and in the four years we have been in government, that is what we are focussing on, solving the issue on a staged basis.
Apart from that, Ro Filipe said the Government has also engaged with our development partners, Asian Development Bank, European Union, and World Bank on the financing.
“So when you have a water plan 2050, it has the identified needs, what infrastructure needs to be put in place, the cost, and the financial plan needs to be with that. So that is already for the incremental stage, or stage one, that is already in place with ADB.
“For example, in the non-revenue water, which is the water lost through old infrastructure, the percentage of that needs to be lowered, so we already have worked with a contractor regarding that, and also with ADB.”
The Government has also done a needs analysis with UNICEF regarding rural water. So again, it’s like the 2050 water plan.
“It also has identified water needs in all the communities in Fiji, what needs to be done, and the approximate cost.
“So, we are working with our development partners on incrementally solving those but that doesn’t mean what has been happening in the last few years, for example, the normal budget, the normal capital projects, the normal maintenance stops, It keeps on happening.”
Ro Filipe said the Government has done the rural water plan, which will be announced soon with UNICEF.
“We are working with our financing institutions, Ministry of Finance, and starting the projects under those two general areas.”
