VILLAGERS of various communities within the Vaturanga area in North West Guadalcanal are calling on responsible authorities to help mend the old and degrading Kojuku bridge.
This came after it was heavily hit by the continuous wet weather conditions experienced in the country the past two weeks.
Speaking to this paper on Monday, North Guadalcanal stringer, John Toki said that due to extensive flooding, the bridge is no longer as strong as it used to be.
“This is one of the main bridges that link the people within these areas to Honiara. If this bridge is damaged then people will not have access to bring their local produces to Honiara.
“With the continuous wet weather, it is already looking this way, especially with one end of the bridge already dug up and out by the floods,” Mr Toki said.
Mr Toki said that the people from within the Vaturanga areas are calling on both the provincial and national governments to help them construct a much higher, better bridge that the people may use.
“We want a bridge that is higher and much stronger, that way it is much safer to cross whenever there is flooding in our areas,” Mr Toki said.
Meanwhile Mr Toki said that the people within the area are also calling of disaster assessment teams to quickly visit their areas in order to see the level of distraction caused by the wet weather conditions recently.
“People’s gardens, houses, villages have all been destroyed by rain and floods. We would very much like assistance; however we know that assessments need to done first before receiving assistance.
“Therefore we are calling on responsible authorities to come over and asses our areas,” Mr Toki said.
By JEREMY P. INIFIRI
