Minister for Waterways Dr Mahendra Reddy has today clarified in Parliament that our rivers have been dredged in the last 12 years.
He made this comment after National Federation Party MP Prem Singh claimed that it is an indisputable fact that rivers and tributaries in Fiji particularly in flood-prone areas have not been dredged in the last 12 years.
Singh said that one of the facts is that the rivers and drains are clogged with mud and overgrown grass which makes them levelled with the roads.
He says this is where there is no escape for the water.
Singh says the clogged Namosau River in Ba is just one painful example of the reality of flooding which devastated Yalalevu to the extent that concrete retaining walls were broken.
In his response, Dr. Reddy stated that Singh has made a factually incorrect statement and says the rivers have been dredged in the last 12 years which includes the dredging of the rivers in Rewa Labasa and Sigatoka.
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