Efforts to mitigate flooding for three villages in Ba, adjacent to the Vutuni Creek have been bolstered following the commissioning of desilting works at the creek.

The desilting works were expected to protect and safe­guard close to 2000 Fijians living in Namosau, Vutuni and Korovitu village.

A total of eight kilometres of emergency creek desilt­ing work was undertaken by the Ministry of Waterways under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) agreement with Aggregate Solution Fiji.

Commissioning the desilting works last week, Minis­ter for Agriculture, Waterways and Environment Ma­hendra Reddy said these work would protect a large amount of arable land from River Bank erosion and would mitigate flooding on farms adjacent to the creek.

“This will further support the commercial agriculture program through increasing agricultural activity in the community, which could bring economic benefit in the area,” he said.

“The desilting works will involve the removal of silt and sediments that have built up within river channels, this to restore its natural capacity, without widening or deepening the river.

Mr Reddy further noted that these desilting works were not to safeguard households only, but intended to protect roads, schools, arable land and infrastructure adjacent to the creek from flooding.

Meanwhile, Mata ni Tikina Jeremaia Tuwai from Nailaga, Ba said farms along the creek were constantly affected by flash flooding and most of their crops were washed away.

He further expressed his gratitude to the Ministry of Waterways as three villages, their farms had been con­stantly and adversely affected by floodwaters. These vil­lagers heavily depend on farming for food and income security.

“This does not only affect our households, but it also af­fects our farms and root crops as well and we’re grateful to the Ministry of Waterways for the desilting works, it is a sigh of relief for us and we hope that flooding will be addressed through these works,” said Mr Tuwai.

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