Outer island maintenance continues

Road maintenance on the island of Gau nears completion as the Fulton Hogan Hiways (FHH) crew work around the clock.

Road works on Gau Island is scheduled on a regular basis. A crew of 11 men is working to complete a total of 28.5 kilometres of the Gau Circular Road, and 696 metres of the Jetty Road.

The Gau circular road was only accessible by 4-wheel drives and had lot of potholes and is usually slippery during rainy weather.

The work has involved drainage, grading with compaction, removal of high shoulders, pavement bridging and metaling, resheeting and the installation of 600 and 900 diameter culverts. A total of 10 heavy machines have been shipped to the island to do the maintenance work.

Some of the challenges faced by crews working on the outer islands include inaccessible network coverage, which impacts the communication between crewmen on the island and their respective headquarters, no electricity in some accommodation quarters, as well as issues associated with shipping schedules and the transportation of equipment and machinery.

When there are plant breakdowns it can be a logistical challenge to get a mechanic over to the island as the services by boat or plane are generally on a weekly basis. This can cause major delays for both the plant and the mechanic. The crews are too small to have a permanent mechanic on the island with the crew.

In February through March of this year, FHH has also carried out maintenance work on the island of Ovalau as well as Gau.

© Scoop Media