Transport issues will now be a thing of the past for the Koro Villagers in Nadarivatu.

This is after their youths purchased a Mitsubishi Fuso three tonne truck yesterday.

Koro youth club advisor and member, Simione Masori said after waiting for 11 years for the maturity of their yaqona, they harvested $30,000 worth of it which was sold at the Tavua market to place a deposit for the $80k worth truck.

Prior to attaining the truck, the villagers would depart the village at 5am to travel for two hours in a shared vehicle to the main road at the Nadarivatu Health Centre and another three hours if they were to travel to Tavua Town.

“The land belongs to the Mataqali so we can say we planted Yaqona on more than 10 acres but we started this project 11 years ago in 2010 to buy our truck for the village as transportation is our challenge because of the road condition so the bus can’t reach up to our place,” Mr Masori said.

“This truck will assist our children and the villagers who sell their crops at the market.”

Mr Masori said at times when someone was sick, they had to take the patient to the hospital by horse.

He said the club would continue to make a monthly payment of $1000 for the truck.

Mr Masori thanked the youth club’s leader Deve Toganivalu and the secretary Sikeli Nabenia for pioneering the project.

He said the Ministry of Youth and Sports had also provided a chainsaw along with barbed wire and nails for them to construct a fence to protect their farm from wild animals.

Edited by Selita Rabuku

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