FRA Budget Drops As Infrastructure Gets Highest Allocation

The Fiji Roads Authority Budget has been slashed by $32.8million.

In the 2024-2025 National Budget announced by Minister for Finance Biman Prasad, the FRA has been allocated $354.8 million.

This is compared to the $387.6million allocated to the authority last year.

Mr Prasad said the allocation was for the on-going construction and maintenance of roads, upgrading and replacement of bridges and jetties and the upgrading of rural roads.

However, an additional $5 million has been allocated for the maintenance and upgrade of rural roads.

“We are also undertaking a major national study on urban traffic particularly traffic between Nadi and Lautoka, Lami, Suva and Nausori

corridor in conjunction with our development partners,” Mr Prasad said.

“Government has also re-established the Public Works Department with increased funding of $8 million. PWD will be gradually expand over the years and will focus on rural roads and public buildings.

“Mr Speaker sir, we are also announcing a LTA amnesty on thousands of vehicles that have been grounded during COVID pandemic.

“During COVID we saw that people could not register their vehicles and when they went back to LTA, fees for all pending years were charged. This will no longer be the case. Effective 1st August 2024, we are providing an amnesty which will allow these vehicles to be registered.”

He added that the Coalition Government would continue to invest heavily in infrastructure development to raise the standard of roads,

bridges, jetties, utilities, and public buildings.

“The Ministry of Public Works has been allocated a sum of $721.4 million, including the funding for the Water Authority and the Fiji

Roads Authority.

WAF corporatisation

He added that the Water Authority of Fiji was provided a total budget of $259.4 million.

“Mr. Speaker Sir, working with the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Department of Public Enterprises, the Ministry intends to take steps

over the next six months towards the corporatisation of the Water Authority of Fiji.

“WAF is already deemed to be a so-called “commercial statutory authority” but its operations are anything but commercial.

“WAF receives about one-tenth of the income it needs to operate and invest sustainably. This is because, for years, and mostly for political reasons, previous Governments have refused to confront reality.”

He said WAF’s poor funding model means that it was wholly dependent on the Government for the money it needed.

“For much of the last 10 years WAF has been dependent on Government grants which are only made known to it every six months.

“This makes it impossible to plan large expenditure or to borrow money for investment, except through the Government with the support of bilateral funders such as the Asian Development Bank and the European Investment Bank.

These loans and project funding can take a long time to organise.

“So WAF does not have a business model that would enable it to plan and build autonomously, even though it is supposed to be commercially independent and under the control of its own board.

“So Mr Speaker Sir, the Government is focused on getting this right, so that our future water and wastewater needs are assured and that investors, businesses and homeowners are assured that this basic need is consistently and efficiently met.”

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