By Neil Cook
Children of Nasau walking across the bridge that was opened by the Prime Minister this week.
My personal goal is for Fiji Roads Authority to be an exemplar agency that can become a model for others to follow.
At FRA, accountability and transparency means we implement world best practice to set comprehensive performance targets and then report against them in a way stakeholders can understand.
This means not just discussing financial outcomes, but also what is being achieved on the ground.
And just as important as presenting our achievements is being open about where further improvement and development is required.
There is no benefit to Fiji in the long term if we set performance targets that are too easy to achieve. We must continually challenge ourselves to do better.
We have come an awful long way in the past 18 months – but we would be naïve to think that the culture change is fully-embedded.
That will come over time as we consistently and diligently apply best practice reporting and accountability standards that allow public scrutiny of all that we do.
The Fiji Roads Authority is a corporateentity with a governing board that reports to the Prime Minister.
Interest in activities
There is quite rightly a high level of interest in the activities of the FRA.
The public of Fiji deserves to be assured that the significant investment Government is making through the FRA is being properly managed.
To give this assurance, FRA’s activities are audited by the Office of the Auditor General.
Our Annual Reports are published on our website and these include the Auditor General’s report for each financial year.
In addition to meeting our statutory audit and reporting requirements FRA undertakes additional independent internal audits to look into specific areas of activity from time to time. This contributes to our goal of continuous improvement.
Audits have a very important role in ensuring accountability to stakeholders; but they should not be just a compliance exercise.
A well-conducted audit should also be seen as an opportunity to identify and rectify shortcomings in processes and systems.
Good auditors can provide excellent independent insight to allow potential issues to be addressed before they become a problem.
At forefront of change
FRA stands at the forefront of change in the way infrastructure is delivered in Fiji.
We know that the work we do impacts every Fijian. Everyone understands this is a huge challenge.
Everyone knows it took several decades of under-investment to allow these public assets to deteriorate to the state that FRA inherited two years ago.
Government’s investment in roading infrastructure is bearing fruit and real improvement is evident right across Fiji.
FRA’s mission is to ensure that the decision makers have all the information they need to make the call on how quickly the restoration will occur.
To be accepted as ‘trusted advisors’ to the Government of the day we must be seen to be absolutely accountable and transparent in how we carry out our business.
I encourage anyone interested in more detail to visit www.fijiroads.org and download a copy of our various plans and reports.
nNeil Cook is the CEO of the Fiji Roads Authority. This is his regular column which will be published by the Fiji Sun on Saturdays.