Kreetika Kumar 
[File Photo]
Minister for Public Works, Ro Filipe Tuisawau says the majority of villages in rural settings have standalone water systems, which have deteriorated over the years.
Ro Filipe says some of those were not built to standard as well, and that’s an area of focus as the government needs to upgrade them.
He adds $7.9 million has been allocated to the Water Authority of Fiji to focus on improving access to water supplies in rural areas.
Ro Filipe says with a quarter billion dollars for the water system, they will be focusing on rural water as a lot of the communities don’t have access to safe drinking water.
“I’ve been to a lot of the rural communities, and that’s a key area, even though in Suva we have the issue of the reliability of supply. But in some areas, they don’t have safe drinking water. It’s untreated water. So that’s also an area on which we need to focus.”
Ro Filipe says that given the magnitude of the challenge we have in the water sector, it is going to take time and cost over $500 million to replace the 40-year-old pipe system that is leaking underground.
In the new fiscal year, the Government has set aside an increased budget of $250.8 million for the water system.
