THE multimillion dollar Nadi River flood mitigation project has been split into three phases that would take four years to complete.
While addressing members of the Nadi Chamber of Commerce and Industry Business Forum over the weekend, civil and architectural engineer John Gray said one of the first structural interventions for the project could begin next year.
“The whole program was based on the 2012 floods and a lot of research has taken place and used in the development of the new output that has been programmed,” he said.
“Government and their partners have considered that the original estimate of $US177 million ($F389m) to eradicate flooding in Nadi was a big package that no one funding agency could provide.
“So what they have done is they have broken it up into three parts.
“Part A is the protection of Nadi Town and this is funded by the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and it’s a grant of $20 million.
“Part B is the structural measures, catchment widening, institutional strengthening and this will possibly be funded by the Asian Development Bank.
“Part C is the watershed management and this could be funded by the Fijian Government and they are talking to a couple of other donor countries right now.”
