Secretary of State of Public Works: “Recent rain damaged roads and bridges”
In an interview to the Secretary of State of Public Works, Domingos Caeiro, on May 18th last, we seeked answers on what are the measures that are being taken to face the many damaged bridges and roads from these the last rain showers, in strategic areas for the community.
We were informed that in November last year, the Secretary of State had knowledge of the prediction for heavy rain in 2010 which motivated the Government to make available 3 million dollars.
According to the Secretary of State the rain came before the predictions, coinciding with the phase immediately before the approval of the State Budget for 2010.
In the month of March, the rain surprised everyone damaging bridges and roads in all the national territory. In Diíli, for example, the roads between Fatuhahi and Akanunu are still closed to heavy vehicles.
In addition, in the months of December and January the rains affected the agricultural fields of the Becora and Suai communities, making it more difficult for the subsistence of the population.
The Secretary of State of the Public Works, laments what happened and is sympathetic with the community, but has a big difficulty to attend all the serious situations of the country with the budget that he has available.
According to the Secretary of State, the budget is not sufficient to attend all the cases of damages in the agricultural fields, it’s only possible to attend to urgent situations, 3 million of dollars are not enough to solve the needier situations. He took the opportunity to refer that an order has already been given for the shipment of equipment to the Manatuto and Quelicai areas.
The Secretariat of State expects that the rectified budget may provide a solution to all the situations that can’t be covered by the before mentioned 3 million dollars.
Questioning the Secretary of State, regading if the quality and resistance of the roads and bridges is enough to face the bad weather that is devastating Timor-Leste, we were informed that “The majority of the roads are from the Indonesian time. A study has been done that proves that the roads, all over the country, don’t have quality and need general maintenance, being that, again, the budget is limited to cover everything that’s necessary to do. The Secretariat of State is converging all it’s efforts to execute the maintenance plans”.
