THE Ministry of Infrastructure Development says it is committed to begin repair works on bridges and roads affected by the recent flash floods in Honiara and Guadalcanal.
Speaking during a press conference in Honiara this week, director of civil engineering Harry Kiri said the ministry has already began working on affected infrastructures with the support of Australian defence force engineering assessment team.
Mr Kiri said assessment of damages caused by recent flooding has already been done by the Australian engineering team who were flown in after the floods.
“MID as the responsible government ministry is thankful for the assistance rendered by Australian defence force engineering assessment team who were deployed to the affected areas and compile the report by which MID can use to begin the repair work,” Kiri said.
The MID spokesperson said the assessment report will assist them to look at priority areas and estimate costs involved and resources needed to quickly fix the damages.
Kiri added although MID only focused on the immediate fix to the problem, they are also drawing up medium to long term plans of improving the roads and bridges in the country.
However he said the immediate plan now is the urgency to rebuild infrastructures to bring connectivity of services to businesses and people.
“But due to limited resources we have the MID is prioritizing its work starting in Honiara and work outwards fixing both east and west Guadalcanal bridges and roads.
He said the urgency is the Matanikau bridge which has already been contracted to Dalgro to continue working on the basement leading to the bridge.
Adding, work has already been done to roads and bridges on the eastern end of Honiara through a local contractor with the help of Guadalcanal Plains Palm Oil Limited (GPPOL).
Meanwhile the Australian team headed by Major Karl Reynolds and Lieutenant Colonel Mark Stone have commended MID and local contractors for a job well done despite the limited resources they have.
By DANIEL NAMOSUAIA