The washed away old Mataniko bridge has been pulled out from the Mataniko river yesterday afternoon.
The bridge was washed away during the April floods and was lying in the river posing threat to properties and lives.
Director of ministry of infrastructure development Harry Rini said retrieving of the bridge comes under the same funding to construct the new Bailey bridge funded under the New Zealand government.
Mr Rini said the purpose of pulling out the bridge was primarily to avoid any destruction from future floods.
“We want to take it out because it might cause destruction in any future flooding. And MID will stock it and use in any future emergency,” Mr Rini said.
He added that retrieving the bridge comes under the same request for the construction of the new Bailey bridge however work to retrieve the bridge was sub-contracted to Dalgro a local company.
The flood washed the old Mataniko Bridge more than 200 meters from its original position.
Meanwhile the MID director said when the JICA project to build the two lane bridge starts, the Bailey bridge will be dismantled and kept with the old one to be used in times of emergencies.
By Daniel Namosuaia