Residents of Kapadia Place in Raiwai were taken by surprise when potholes in the area were filled by civilians.

Aben Dean and his employees from his carwash took on the initiative to fill the potholes with gravel on Tuesday and tried their best to compact it so the filling will last for some time.

According to Mr Dean, he took the step because he had run out of patience for action to be taken.

“The holy month of Ramadan is upon us and the street where our mosque is situated will be busy,” he said.

“I had, on several occasions, sent emails to the Fiji Roads Authority, but did not have any response.

“I acquired the materials and together with workers from the carwash I have filled the potholes.

“I believe there are certain things we can do ourselves and not wait for authorities.”

Jone Qaqa, a resident of the area praised the initiative.

Another resident, Lusiana Rokotunidau said the road conditions had been bad for some time and felt that the road had been neglected.

FRA acting chief executive officer Kamal Prasad said Kapadia Place was in their programme of works for the road to be reconstructed in March 2022.

“But we may attend to this earlier if we are able to engage additional contractors with the specialist equipment for the nature of works,” he said.

“In the interim we will patch the potholes with gravel. The roads have been prioritised according to the number of vehicles using it per day.

“When the high volume roads in an area are completed then we attend to the low volume roads.

“An example for this strategy is what is happening in Samabula North.”

Edited by Ranoba Baoa

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