A Rarotonga-based contractor will undertake road renewal work spanning 4.5 kilometres and contract value of over $6 million.

Infrastructure Cook Islands (ICI) has contracted Triad Petroleum Ltd to undertake road renewal work in Avatiu Valley, at Matavera School and in Turangi.

ICI project manager Jake Langdon in a statement said: “The overall contracted works is scheduled to be completed in January which will be subject to weather of course. As we all know, we get heavy downpours at times and this can halt work”.

The total road renewal spans 4.5 kilometres and has a contract value of $6,121,009.

“ICI prioritised the work to start in Avatiu Valley as the area experiences on-going damage to the road due to poor roadside and road crossing drainage systems. So we want to get that road and associated drainage assets repaired first to ensure safe passage for those who live and work in the valley,” said Langdon.

The work in Avatiu Valley is scheduled to be completed at the end of July.

Hot mix will be applied between the backroad and the power station then chip sealed from there and up to the area below the water tanks.

“The vast majority of required resources for the project are fortunately already on-island. Though shipping delays have certainly impacted the availability of products, the contractor has worked effectively to avoid these issues while ICI have been ready to work with the contractor to avoid any major hold ups,” said Langdon.

The condition of roads in Rarotonga have been a source of frustration for many years. ICI Civil Works Division maintains existing roads on an annual budget of $850,000. The Division operates with 16 staff who are also seconded to Pa Enua roading projects from time to time.

Larger road works like the road renewal detailed earlier are mostly carried out via contracts with the private sector.

“The cause of road destruction is water and weight. This is why good drainage is important to roading infrastructure and one that has become more important with the onset of increased intensity rainfall due to climate change.”

Infrastructure Cook Islands has highlighted the need to have weight restrictions for heavy vehicles and the need for weigh bridges for Rarotonga.

Infrastructure Cook Islands acknowledges that some stretches of the roads on Rarotonga are in poor condition especially along the Ara Metua and cross roads. “It will take time and much investment to bring every road up to a decent standard and ICI continues to plan for road reconstruction work every year.”

Infrastructure Cook Islands looks forward to the road improvements for a safer and better road network.