A team of Indian Railway experts have arrived in Fiji to undertake an assessment of the Fijian railway network and recommend a plan of action for upgrading the network to accommodate greater freight and passenger travel.

The team was dispatched to Fiji by the Indian Ministry of Railways following a meeting between Attorney‑General Aiyaz Sayed‑Khaiyum and the Indian Minister for Railways, Piyush Goyal, during the World Sustainable Development Summit held in New Delhi, India last month.

The technical team arrived in Fiji on Tuesday and consists of General Manager for Special Projects, Prem Ranjan Kumar, General Manager Rolling Stock Akilesh Misra, and General Manager for Transport and Economics, Skirkant Kanbandhu.

The technical team has already made a site visit to the Rarawai Sugar Mill in Ba and will continue site visitations throughout the Western Division during the week.

Sayed‑Khaiyum welcomed the expert team to Fiji at a meeting in Suva where he stressed the enormous benefits of upgrading railway infrastructure in Fiji.

He says that the upgrading the railway systems to accommodate greater freight will have an immediate impact for farmers, including the cane farmers, who will be able to cart more cane, reduce their cartage costs and increase their profit margins.

Sayed-Khaiyum says the introduction of passenger travel will open up Fiji in new ways that will benefit tourism, agriculture, transportation and many other sectors of the growing economy.

He says that government is very keen to partner with the Indian Government on this project and look forward to receiving the full recommendation from the technical team following the completion of their assessment.