FIVE thousand mangrove saplings were planted yesterday by the Fiji Roads Authority (FRA) to account for the trees removed for the construction of the new Tamavua-i-Wai Bridge at the Suvavou Village Foreshore.
FRA chief executive officer Jonathan Moore said in order to construct the Tamavua-i-Wai Bridge, they had to remove 15 mangrove trees.
“The ratio is of 1:10 for every cut tree, however, 150 would not have made much impact so in collaboration with other Ministries and Departments we decided to go beyond to help the environment,” Mr Moore said.
“A healthy mangrove system is becoming increasingly important and as such we have replaced the 15 mangroves that we had removed with 5000 saplings at two locations in Suvavou,” he said.
“We thank the villagers, the government departments, the FRA staff and volunteers from the World Wildlife Fund that took part in this important initiative. We are planning to do similar activities in other locations.”
The Tamavua-i-Wai Bridge is progressing well and is anticipated to be completed by early next year.
