Bad weather hampers road development

BY BEN BILUA

THE match awaited national road development has been hampered by the bad weather which hit the country over the past days.

Operations were suspended last week but resumed yesterday when bad weather dissipated as the tropical low, slowly move away from the country.

The halt to road development has raised questions whether the project will be completed as scheduled this year.

In an interview with this paper yesterday Acting Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Infrastructure Development Mr Jimmy Nuake explained that the extent of delays due to weather conditions will be determined after the rainy season which normally hit the country from November to April.

“Anticipated delays due to the rainy period has been factored into the scheduling of works so we do not anticipate the completion date to change significantly at this stage,” he said.

The $213 million Kukum Highway Project commenced soon after a ground breaking ceremony to end of the project’s preparatory phase and the beginning of the construction phase in July 2016.

Kukum Highway project is a partnership between ‘Japan International Cooperation Agency’ as grant agency for the Government of Japan and Government of Solomon Islands through the Ministry of Infrastructure Development, MID.

The construction phase is planned to run from July 2016 to November this year (2018).

It is highly preached that the road development will connect various important services and operations in and outside of Honiara City and at the same address the traffic congestions and the poor road conditions encountered daily in Honiara.

The Kukum Highway has become one of the most important infrastructures that has through the years been supporting economic investments in and around Honiara City as well as further west and east of the city.

In recent years until now, the main road has been slowly deteriorating, resulting in potholes everywhere from Kukum Campus in the east, down to Rove in West side of Honiara.

Bad days for drivers still exist now but good days is said to come at the end of this year when drivers and the travelling passengers will relax comfortably while traveling on the road.

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