VT1.7 billion for road maintenance not enough

July 6, 2026 9:44 pm | Posted in Business News | Share now TwitterFacebook

By Anita Roberts.

The VT1.7 billion allocated annually for road maintenance is not enough to maintain Vanuatu’s 2,912 km road network, according to the Director of the Public Works Department (PWD), Andree Iatipu.

Managed by PWD, this road network consists of earth, gravel, concrete and asphalt roads. Director Iatipu told the Parliamentary Committee on Economic and Foreign Policies that most of these roads are not in a maintainable state.

He said the roads must be upgraded to a maintainable standard before the budget can be utilised. Currently, the funds are being used for improvement works, not major upgrades, he said.

Director Iatipu was responding to a question from committee member and Member of Parliament (MP) for Efate Rural, Fred Samuel.

Minister for Infrastructure, Xavier Emmanuel Harry, also said that the budget is not enough to properly cover the entire road network, which is large and varied.

“We must understand that of the 2,912 km road network, there are earth, gravel, concrete and asphalt roads, all of which require different types of maintenance and come with different costs,” he said.

“Road maintenance is not just fixing the road surface, but also includes keeping roadsides clear, controlling vegetation and maintaining drainage.

“We have tried our best to address this issue by trying to increase funding last year and are asking again through New Policy Proposals (NPPs) this year.”

MP Samuel has also questioned whether there are problems with the South Santo Road Project after the earthquake.

PWD Director Iatipu explained that all bridges have been inspected, and only one (Bridge #2, Ussa) has been affected. He said that one side of the bridge is located on a fault line, and it has been displaced around 65 centimetres towards the Ussa River, causing compression on the bridge deck.

“The bridge is currently under a defects liability period, which began after the contractor handed the project over to the government. This liability period is expected to end in July,” he said.

The director added that the contractor has already provided a cost estimate for how much it would take to fix the defect.

Regarding the national building code, Minister Harry said the new building code was launched this year, but many gaps have been identified after the earthquake, and the ministry is addressing them.

He mentioned that the ministry is constructing a new laboratory at the SHEFA Division to test construction materials in-house, including imported materials, to ensure compliance with the building code.