Councils Work Round The Clock
Minister for Local Government, Housing and Environment Parveen Bala is closely working with city and town councils in the Western Division to get their towns cleaned and operational by today.
“I have told all the councils to have their towns clean and tidy by tomorrow (today). With the assistance of the National Fire Authority (NFA) our priority is to clean the Central Business District areas (CBD) and the market to get their towns up and running by tomorrow,” Mr Bala said.
They had been working with the various councils, National Fire Authority (NFA) personnel, officers from the Fiji Police Force and soldiers and officers from the the Republic of Fiji Military Forces (RFMF) in their clean-up campaign.
“The worst affected is Ba. I have been told that Nadi, Lautoka and Tavua have managed and Rakiraki is all good. It is just Ba that is left,” Mr Bala said.
He said it was too early to determine the total cost of damage that Ba alone sustained during the weekend flooding.
“ … we need to visit all the places and all the corners in order to give an estimate, but at the moment no, but in terms of damage yes this is the worst,” Mr Bala said.
“I was here back in 2009, compared with 2009 I would say this one is really worse.”
Mr Bala said people did not even have time to collect their valuable belongings because of the rapid rise in floodwaters.
In addition, Ba town and residential areas faced power and water cuts, making the clean-up process more challenging.
However, Mr Bala said they would work tirelessly round the clock to get the towns ready for business as soon as possible.
Edited by Epineri Vula
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