National Federation Party President Pio Tikoduadua is calling on the Water Authority of Fiji and its leadership to stop wasting time doing public relation stunts and focus on providing reliable water supply to the people of Fiji but the Water Authority of Fiji is stressing that they are already building to reduce the considerable strain on infrastructure through the Viria Water Project.
In a statement, Tikoduadua says WAF has failed to provide reliable water supply to the people and that is the fact of the matter.
Tikoduadua stresses that no amount of excuses or childish attacks and deflection can cover that up.
He says he has been personally inundated with calls from constituents about their lack of water supply.
WAF Board Chairman Bhavesh Patel has already stressed that there has been a massive rural to urban drift and now hundreds of thousands of people live in the Suva to Nausori corridor which has put a considerable strain on the current infrastructure.
He says this drift was foreseen and plans were put in place to find a new source of raw water and build a new treatment plant.
Patel adds WAF, from the year 2010 to 2014, started working with consultants to determine the viability of a new source for what is now the Viria Project when it was discovered that the original source site at Kasavu, Nausori has saltwater intrusion.
He says site sampling works were in progress at Delaidamanu in 2014 when it became known that there was going to be mining activities upstream of the source hence the new source at Viria was identified in 2015.
Patel further says after the new source was confirmed, the Asian Development Bank provided WAF with technical assistance and feasibility study to reconfirm the Suva Master Plan before WAF started working with ADB and the Fijian Government to secure funding.
He adds preliminary design commenced in 2017 and the final construction public tender was called in 2018 and awarded in April 2019.
Patel adds from then works commenced at the Viria Project Site for F$270 million.
The WAF Board Chairman says COVID-19 has further delayed the project but construction works started again in December, 2021.
He adds they are building infrastructure to reduce this strain – the Viria project being the major one which will increase supply capacity in the Suva-Nausori area by 40 million litres per day.
Patel stresses this is the kind of forward planning which was not done in the past.
He says on top of this, there are many other infrastructural upgrades being done around the country.
Patel adds it is also important to note that the money is not just spent on projects as one off things, but includes maintenance and upkeep, with necessary repairs and upgrades carried out over time.
He says new upgrades and treatment plants have been commissioned in Namau, and further projects set to be commissioned in 2022 include Nagado, Waiwai, Savusavu, Vunidawa, Nabouwalu and Pacific Harbour.
