Repair and maintenance work on the wooden bridges along South Road in Malaita Province is making progress.
The urgent repairs began in late December 2025 and were undertaken by local contractor Trades Transformation Company (TTC).
They started on the first bridge at Maoro, along the Central Kwara’ae Road. Works are carried out by demolition and then rebuilding using new materials such as log beams and installation of other safety components of the bridges.
Following this, TTC will proceed to repair three other wooden bridges at Sinasu, Gwale, and Ngariwane in West Kwaio during the first quarter of this year.
The state of these bridges is too old and dangerous to bear loads. For now, passing vehicles are diverted to use wet crossings and temporary bridges established to maintain connectivity.
TTC also has two ongoing projects in Malaita: sealing the first 5 kilometers from Kwaibala to Oibola and maintaining the 33-km section from Maoa (West Kwaio) to Hauhui (West Are’are).
These projects are funded under the National Transport Fund, with support from the Australian Government.
These road infrastructure upgrades aim to improve safer travel, connectivity, and access to markets and government services for rural communities across Malaita.
In the meantime, other road contracts for Malaita will resume shortly after taking a break this festive season—Northeast road maintenance (Fataleka), Busurata road repair, and other government-funded ones are to kick off as well.
– MID Press
