Biggest Water Project Completed $684m

Major construction works on the biggest water project – Viria Project – has been completed and tests carried out before it will be commissioned to benefit close to 360, 000 Fijians.

Water Authority of Fiji (WAF) chief executive officer Amit Chanan yesterday inspected the Viria Water Treatment Plant in Naitasiri. He was briefed on the phased testing works and noted that major construction works were completed, in line with the target date of Fiji Day 2023.

WAF team and contractors are undertaking phased testing of plant components, pumps and reservoirs to ensure full compliance with the design.

The project will be ready to deliver water to Fijians in the Suva-Nausori corridor.

Earlier this year, Mr Chanan said the Water Authority’s production of drinkable water was three million litres short of meeting the daily demands of the Suva/Nausori corridor.

This, he said, led to the intermittent water supply issues in the corridor.

“This is one of the biggest water projects ever implemented in Fiji,” Mr Chanan said.

“The total value is USD$300m (FJ$ 684.9m) and the ADB funding as well as the funding partners who were critical to us for delivering this project,” he said.

“We also want to thank the team for to make this project a reality.”

He said they were close to supplying water from the plant to the Suva - Nausori area.

“Since late last year, the team has been working tirelessly to finish the project and we had Fiji Day to be able to finish the project

“We have achieved that and right now we are going through the phase-by-phase testing of each component and the team has just informed me that we are testing each component to see if they are functioning as per the design and we are now very much ready to supplying water from this project.

“I thank the Suva residence for their patience and the time is very near now for them to get the 40 million litres of water that this plant is able to supply.”

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