The government has allocated The Fiji Roads Authority $387.6 million for the next fiscal year.

In his National Budget address in Parliament, Finance Minister Professor Biman Prasad says that of this figure, $372.9 million is allocated for capital expenditure and $14.7 million is for operations expenditure.

He says the government has changed its approach to the planning, construction, and maintenance of our roads.

Prasad says there has been a lot of wastage and funding of what he calls novelty-type and overly expensive road projects in Fiji.

“The new FRA board is fully in sync with this, and they have been working closely with the government to rethink some of the scoping and design works and the modalities of awarding road contracts, including closer monitoring and supervision of contractors and encouraging the participation of local contractors in direct contracting for smaller companies.”

Prasad says of the total budget allocation for FRA, $60 million is for renewal and re-servicing of roads; $42 million is for completed maintenance and emergency works; and $35.4 million is for the completion of ongoing bridge projects.

Minister of Finance, Professor Biman Prasad. 

He adds that $18.3 million is allocated for rural roads, and $13.2 million will be for the upgrade of Queen Elizabeth Drive in Suva.

He says the government will place major emphasis on adequate maintenance on Fiji’s road network with an increased allocation of $100.6 million for road maintenance.

Queen Elizabeth Drive in Suva.

The Finance Minister says $82.2 million is set aside for the Transport Infrastructure Investment Sector project, financed with Asian Development Bank and World Bank loans of USD 100 million and USD 50 million, respectively.