From the Prime Minister's Office, Thursday 13 November 2008: The Prime Minister, Dr. the Hon Feleti Vaka’uta Sevele, today visited five of the nine roads on Tongatapu that are currently being upgraded and reconstructed by a grant from the Government of the People’s Republic of China. He was accompanied by the Minister for Works, Lord Nuku, and the Chinese Ambassador to Tonga, H.E. Fan Guijin.

Most of the nine roads being upgraded are trunk or feeder roads which will give people more easy access to their tax allotments/plantations. A good example of this is the 2.72km road from Masilamea to Kala’au in the western district which will greatly benefit people of the villages of Kolovai, Ha’avakatolo and Fo’ui whose allotments are located in the area. Another is the 2.51km road from the village of ‘Utulau to Liahona.

There are however two relatively shorter roads which will greatly benefit parents as the better roads will ensure that their children will have better access to the Government Primary Schools in those areas. This is true of the 0.76km road that provides access to the Hala’ovave GPS in Kolomotu’a and the road that provides access to the Popua GPS in Ma’ufanga.

The work is being carried out by the Yan Jian Group Co. Ltd from China. All of the materiel required for the road works, such as coral rocks, is sourced locally and the company employs between 40 to 60 local employees and uses heavy equipment and machinery that are hired locally. The contracting company works in very close cooperation with the Ministry of Works which is responsible for the roads of Tonga.

According the Mr. Qi Lu, the Project Team Leader, their original target date for the completion of the 9 roads was January 2009, but they may not be able to meet this deadline because of the unseasonal heavy rain that Tonga has been getting recently and the inability of local rock quarries to provide the quantity of crushed rock they need on time. He was however confident that the completion of the project will not be too far off the target date.

The Hon Prime Minister said that this was the first time for him to visit the roads and he was very happy with the work that has been carried out so far and he was certain that people living in the vicinity of the roads were also very happy. He also said that he hoped that this was the first of many road projects that the Chinese government will assist with. He took the opportunity to congratulate Mr. Qi Lu and his team for their work so far and thanked the Chinese Ambassador for the Chinese Government’s assistance.

The Chinese Ambassador, H.E. Fan Guijing, in turn thanked the Hon Prime Minister and the Hon Minister for Works for their concern and enthusiasm about the project and he assured them that his government is keen to hand over a road project that meets their complete satisfaction.