The Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Environment, Joshua Wycliffe, says work on the sewer leakage along the Denarau Bridge in Nadi have started.

Mr Wycliffe confirmed to the Fiji Sun that officers had gone to the site to attend to the issue on Monday night.

“Our officers have worked on a remedial notice and they will fix it by tonight, that’s what they told me,” Mr Wycliffe said.

Water Authority of Fiji (WAF) spokesperson Peni Shute confirmed that a WAF team would work on the leakage as of 7pm last night.

“Once they complete the excavation, they will be able to isolate the leakage and assess the problem and see what needs to be done,” he said.

“So based on their excavation, that will depend on the time frame of the repair works.”

Meanwhile, an employee of Denarau Island in Nadi said the stench from the sewage spill affected his work.

The employee, who wished to remain anonymous, said it mostly affected workers in the morning.

“It affects us. When we come to work in the morning, we want everything to be 100 percent, we want to look clean and be neat,” he said.

“We need to keep clean, especially when we are working in the tourism industry and whenever you come to work, you will have to pass that smell and we have to walk over the sewage because passing that area is the only way to work.”

He said he hoped the issue would be fixed immediately.

Edited by Epineri Vula

Feedback: nicolette.chambers@fijisun.com.fj