Major Honiara Road Rehabilitation To Start Soon

Major Honiara Road Rehabilitation To Start Soon

The government is soon to begin a major public road rehabilitation program in Honiara city in view of the current wet weather condition which is expected to cause extra damage to existing road infrastructures.

The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Infrastructure Development (MID), John Ta’aru said today the upgrading work covers existing roads including the Vura sector, the Ranadi Industrial zone, the main Honiara City road as well as unsealed roads in the East, Central and West Honiara constituencies.

A Public Tender has already been released for the drainage improvement work along the Vura sealed road as well as feeder roads linked to the main road. Actual work is expected by mid March.

“The Ministry was aware of the required maintenance work on the Vura main road and has engaged a contractor to cut trees along the road in late 2009. The follow up work will be for the improvement of the drainage systems to cater for the amount of storm water from feeder roads,” Mr Ta’aru explained.

A next contract shall be for the full rehabilitation of the sealed road. It is required that the sealed road be reaped and reformed to be in line with the new drainage system. A tender will be released after work on the drainage system is completed.

Government has also released a Public Tender seeking a suitable contractor to construct a proper drainage system on Ranadi Industrial Zone road system in mid March.

Proper tar sealing of that road system will be done after work on the drainage system is completed.

The Government recognizes that the Ranadi Industrial Zone plays an important economic role and its road system must be properly constructed, drained, sealed and maintained.

A Public Tender seeking contractors for rehabilitation of unsealed or feeder roads in East, Central and West Honiara zones have already been released.

The required work is for specific rehabilitation of the unsealed roads in Honiara within five months. An additional Contract for routine maintenance of these roads will be made soon.
Meanwhile, a Contractor (DALGRO Co) was engaged in 2009 for a period of two years for regular maintenance of the sealed main road from Lunga Bridge to White River Bridge.

A Contractor was also engaged for the maintenance of vegetation control on the mid strip as well as the number of ring-roads along the main Honiara road.

The contract lapsed on 31st Dec 2009 but was extended to 28th February 2010. A new Contract is expected to be signed in March 2010.

While maintenance is being addressed, drainage on the Eastern section (Fishing Village/Kukum/Bahai sector) of the main road is an area that needs to be addressed and rectified.

The tender processes through which contractors are engaged is a requirement under the Financial Instructions (FI) where all outsourced work must be processed accordingly to maintain transparency and accountability.

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