Sugarcane farmers to benefit from additional road upgrading
Sugarcane farmers to benefit from additional road upgrading
works
25 May, 2017
Nadi, Fiji – Over 200 sugarcane
farmers and their families in the Drasa sector of Fiji’s
sugarcane belt region will benefit from road rehabilitation
works that have commenced in the area, following the
awarding of a FJD 4.13 million contract to Dayals Quarries
Limited earlier this month.
The upgrading works cover 39
kilometres of cane access roads and will ease farmers’
time and transport costs once completed.
The road
rehabilitation work has been made possible through the
European Union (EU) EUR13 million (FJD 30 million) Rural
Access Roads and Associated Infrastructure (RARAI) project,
implemented by the Pacific Community (SPC). The four-year
RARAI project is a significant partnership between the EU
and SPC.
The RARAI project also attempts to improve
watershed management in the Drasa, Koronubu and Malolo
sugarcane sectors and is generating income for residents
through employment opportunities during the construction
period.
Once completed, the road works will benefit over
2000 cane farming households in the sugarcane belt
area.
"This project tackles a key challenge for farmers,
in particular in more remote areas of Fiji, by easing the
transportation of sugar to the mills. The project has also
an important social component, as it will provide employment
for vulnerable groups of the population. It is therefore an
important element in the EU's ongoing support to the sugar
sector in Fiji. There is now a lot of effort to implement
the rehabilitation of the access roads in a short period of
time, while all stakeholders will still need to be closely
associated,” said Christoph Wagner, Head of Cooperation at
the EU Delegation for the Pacific.
“SPC is delighted
for cane farmers, their families and other commuters who
will benefit directly from the Drasa Phase II road upgrading
works. We envisage the rehabilitation works will augment
government’s effort to prepare cane access roads in time
for the cane crushing season that starts next month,”
Pacific Community Director-General, Dr Colin Tukuitonga
said.
Contractor representatives, including
representatives of the Fiji Government, the sugar and roads
sectors, the EU and SPC held a partner dialogue in Lautoka
today to strengthen communication between them and to hear
how the Drasa Phase II works will be implemented. The
roadworks will be supervised by Civil Works Solutions
(CWS).
The FJD 30 million road rehabilitation works,
funded by the EU under their “Accompanying Measures for
the Sugar Protocol” (AMSP) programme will see over 200
kilometres of cane access roads and drainage systems in the
Malolo, Drasa and Koronubu cane sectors rehabilitated
between now and the 2018 cane crushing seasons.
In March
2017, the Prime Minister and Minister for iTaukei Affairs,
Sugar Industry and Foreign Affairs, Hon. Josaia Voreqe
Bainimarama officially launched the RARAI project in the
Malolo sugarcane sector in Nadi.
Background:
The
four-year Rural Access Roads and Associated Infrastructure
(RARAI) project is funded by the European Union (EU) and
implemented by the Pacific Community (SPC).
The expected
key results of the RARAI project are: (i) improved watershed
management in specific sugarcane sectors through
rehabilitation and maintenance of cane access roads,
including associated rural infrastructure; (ii) increased
community/household income through inclusion in the
rehabilitation and maintenance of cane access roads,
including associated rural infrastructure; and (iii)
establishment of road maintenance
systems.