THE Solomon Islands Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SICCI) has joined forces with key infrastructure stakeholders to move the Honiara road improvement forward.
SICCI’s Infrastructure and Transport sub-committee has recently been meeting with the Ministry of Infrastructure and Development (MID), Honiara City Council (HCC) and Royal Solomon Islands Police (RSIP) and supporting them to hold fortnightly meetings to address the current traffic congestion problems.
A meeting on Wednesday this week between SICCI and JICA, led by the Sub-Committee’s Team Leader, Andy Hewson, heard of JICA’s plans for the next three years with possible substantial funding assistance from Japan.
Speaking to the SICCI team, JICA Project Formulation Adviser, Naoko Laka revealed that the design mission from Japan will be in Honiara in November to conduct a preliminary survey to define the scope of the Kukum Highway Project.
“The project aims at improving the quality of road, expanding the Mataniko Bridge as well as taking necessary measures to solve traffic congestions at and around the HCC roundabout,” said Ms Laka.
On behalf of the SICCI team, Mr Hewson assured JICA that the Chamber is working very closely with the Police, HCC and MID to ensure that there are no barriers to this proposed development, as it is in the best interest of this nation, and especially for Honiara residents, to upgrade the Kukum Highway.
The Kukum Highway project has come about as a result of a project proposal to JICA, submitted by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Development in 2012.
Solomon Star