Agriculture and Waterways Minister Vatimi Rayalu has urged members of the public to refrain from dumping waste into waterways.
This call comes in the wake of recent flash flooding, where poor drainage was the major cause of homes and businesses being inundated with water.
“The ministry’s waterways division is responsible for every water that exists in this country from the water catchment, right down to the river mouths and the coasts — it is a huge responsibility when you think of it with a limited budget,” Mr Rayalu said.
Mr Rayalu said they were working closely with the Fiji Roads Authority (FRA) and the National Disaster Management Office (NDMO) on the drainage issues around the country.
“We have given some of our machines to them to carry out their drainage works particularly around the roads that have been flooded.
“We are also looking at changing some of our flood gates from wooden to steel ones because the steel ones hold much better in terms of control and release of water.
“Fixing these floodgates and seawalls is quite costly but I can assure the nation that the Ministry is doing all it can.”
Mr Rayalu added teams have been deployed to villagers and farmers that were affected by the flooding and assessments of damages were currently being done by officers.
“My advice to the public is to stop this dumping of plastic bottles and containers and all sorts of garbage into our waterways.
“We should look after our waters, let’s be responsible and keep it clean.” || Agri Min || AGRICULTURE and Waterways Minister Vatimi Rayalu has urged members of the public to refrain from dumping waste into the waterways.
