BY JOHN HOUANIHAU
A resident of North Guadalcanal, who is currently the President of the North Guadalcanal Bus Association James Para is calling on the government to fix the appalling roads north of Guadalcanal province.
He said the nature of the roads has made it difficult for transport service providers like buses and trucks to use over the years.
According to James Para, their poor road conditions have been worsened by the current economic hardship facing the country due to the recent Covid-19 pandemic. He said the situation has been terrible and has affected their economic activities.
He said that transporting passengers and other commodities like agricultural produce from villages to the Honiara Township has become very difficult and therefore their roads need urgent intervention from the government.
“We are the main providers and suppliers of agricultural produce in Honiara. The majority of agricultural products come from the North Guadalcanal plains and it’s quite disappointing to see that nothing has been done by the government to improve the bad nature of the roads in North Guadalcanal,” he told Environment Media.
The resident pointed out that the deteriorated roads have become very terrible putting financial pressure on the drivers, especially transport businesses like taxi and truck drivers and other motorists who provide services using the roads.
“These poor road conditions have also caused vehicles to have engine failures and other mechanical problems and a lot of our money has been spent on mechanical spare parts to fix our vehicles,” James argued.
