Major tourism-related activities are set to be protected from major flooding once dredging works at the Nadi River is completed.
Waterways Minister Dr Mahendra Reddy said this when he officiated at the commission of the project at Sikituru Village, Nadi yesterday.
The minister told villagers that 875 households would be protected once works was completed.
“If we are able to remove the silt, widen the river, we will minimise spill over hence we will be reducing the discharge capacity of Nadi River,” Dr Reddy said.
“Five villages will be protected; we will remove 1.2 million cubic metres of silt over the 9km from the river mouth upstream right up to Narewa Village.
“Narewa, Sikituru, Yavusania and nearby settlements will be protected from this project, the infrastructure and the agriculture sector will be protected.”
He said the project would also protect Nadi Town and its nearby communities and he acknowledged chiefs for supporting the project. The dredging works will be carried out by Hong Yuan Development Pte Ltd.
He added many villages and settlements in Fiji had been battered by river bank erosions and the ministry continued to work closely with them to find our possible solutions to this constant problem.
