Jale Daucakacaka 
Public Works Minister, Ro Filipe Tuisawau says the continuous migration of technical workers, remains a huge challenge for the department.
Ro Filipe says the Fiji Roads Authority is currently making efforts to catch up on road maintenance, despite the loss of skilled and experienced staff.
“We’re not talking about clerical officers, we talking about technical people, which includes road engineers, road construction technical people, those who monitor and test the quality of materials. That’s very technical work and very specific and a lot of these people have moved out of Fiji.”
Ro Filipe says recovering the lost skills and experience will be a time-consuming endeavour.
For the immediate future, the Minister says once the Public Works Department is established, it will concentrate on the rehabilitation of roads not under FRA’s care, particularly in rural and maritime areas.
With a $5 million budget allocation, Ro Filipe says PWD is in the process of acquiring equipment to facilitate road works around the country.
