There has been some major road upgrading on my side of Fiji — Natewa Bay Rd, off the Hibiscus highway. In the past couple of months, Fulton Hogan surfaced the road up to Valavala Estate with crushed rocks rather than the usual low quality river gravel, leaving us with a very high quality road.

Natewa Bay is not only the largest bay in the South Pacific, it is also very beautiful and will be a major natural attraction for Fiji too. Rural poverty at tikina level is high in this area, according to a World Bank 2007 report, so providing quality road will become a major catalyst for poverty alleviation. I know this because I live in this part of rural Fiji.

If powers that be extend this quality roadworks past our villages (Dawa, Vusaratu, Natewa, Vusasivo etc), we the villagers will be more than able to bring in visitors to our forests and villages and provide extra sightseeing and diving locations.

We can even declare this area a scenic drive in Fiji, where we will not see billboards blocking the beautiful sights but also give our visitors an opportunity to enjoy true village hospitality with homestays.

Daily positive impacts so far from Fulton Hogan’s work: less travel time to Savusavu, no more bumpy rides, less vehicle repairs, able to bring in costless taxis rather than the expensive twin-cabs 4WD hire and the list goes on.

Vina’a va’alevu Fiji Roads Authority, MWH and Fulton Hogan — bring on 2016.