Deputy Prime Minister who is also the Minister of Infrastructure Development (MID) Hon. Manasseh Maelanga has assured East Malaita people that the current deteriorating road conditions will be fixed as soon as possible.
The recent heavy rainfalls have affected road conditions along the Kwarea and Kwai’abu section.
During his constituency visit last week, Hon. Maelanga said his ministry with help of constituency office will deploy machines and allocate funds to help emergency works on the road.
The slippery road conditions has also claimed the life of an elderly woman when a pick-up truck they were travelling on skidded downhill at Kwai’abu section last week.
Farmers at East Malaita also complained that the drains and muddy section of the road caused inconveniences and access difficulty for their loads of market products and accessing services to Auki town.
In the meantime, the East Malaita MP revealed that the detail plans for a short cut road from Taba’a connecting the Busurata road in Central Kwara’ae has been completed and submitted to his office.
“The report details the survey work conducted by MID engineers since last year in the highlands of Kwara’ae.
“Our aim is to cut a road through the mountains which will be a shorter route to reach Auki,” he said adding that the issue now is the availability of funds to kick-off such project which his office will work on.
East Malaita road traverses the island from the west at Dala, along the North Road, to the Atori port on the eastern coast. It runs through three wards with nearly 14,000 people and serves as the main access road for two other wards on the eastern coast, which are home to an additional 13,000people.
World Bank under a road Improvement and Maintenance Program along with the Government is understood to have allocated funds and contractors to work on improving segment of the Malaita roads since last year.
