Municipal councils owe the Fiji Roads Authority around $15 million and the Government intends to take this money back from the local governments.

Attorney-General and Minister for Economy Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum revealed this as he greeted special administrators from all around the country at the Holiday Inn, Suva.

“FRA has been fixing up the roads for municipal councils, they owe at least $15 million. We do the footpaths, we do the lighting, and we do the roads. Yet the municipal councils have not given us a single cent yet. We intend to get that money back.

“Compared to yesteryears, you will see there are roads which are very good.”

He said to have uniformity on the way roads were constructed and street lightings set up, this task was given to FRA, adding that different municipal councils were constructing roads differently and had different lighting.

“This is precisely why municipal councils no longer do the roads. The conditions of roads in municipalities were terrible. Some were good and some were not good. Now there is a uniform approach to the roads,” Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said.

Municipal councils still collect the same rates, which they used to when they looked after street lights and the roads.

The A-G alluded to the point of roads and the money owed to FRA as he was driving the point of having uniformity across all municipal councils, especially when it came to designs.

On his recent trip to the United States, he said he found rubbish bins with good designs and one particular one fitted with provisions to put out cigarette butts, emphasising that bins across all municipalities needed to be the same.

Mr Sayed-Khaiyum also highlighted the effectiveness of municipalities working together to procure items. He said this would make procurement cheaper.

Edited by Naisa Koroi

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