Maintaining drains during the rainy periods are a priority, says council
The Suva City Council is attending to all drains prone to flash flooding, including ones identified from complaints and those detected during inspection or surveys.
“A council taskforce has been set up to attend to blockage of drains and other areas needing immediate attention such as clearing fallen vegetation, land slips and flying debris,” Suva special administrator Chandu Umaria said.
He said council would continue this exercise despite the adverse weather conditions. Mr Umaria said the council, through its maintenance contractors, was responsible for maintaining a large number of public drains, extending to approximate linear lengths of 35 kilometres in the greater city area.
“Under normal routine maintenance programmes these drains are thoroughly attended to once a month by our contractors,” Mr Umaria said.
“However some drains which are susceptible to floods, especially in low- lying areas of the city, are attended to more often, based on our assessment to avoid possible flooding of private properties.
Mr Umaria said maintaining drains during the rainy periods were a priority of the council and complaints from public were always attended to forthwith.
farisha.ahmed@fijisun.com.fj