Vava’u residents are asking why the Ministry of Infrastructure did not use an experienced local driver to operate the road roller which went into the sea yesterday.
As Kaniva news reported yesterday, the road roller overturned and fell into the sea at Vaipua bridge in Neiafu yesterday morning.
The driver was unharmed.
Questions have emerged about whether the driver, who was sent from Tongatapu by the Ministry of Infrastructure to operate the road roller, was familiar with the area’s steep roads.
Neiafu Town Officer Vāvā Lapota said there were also allegations the roller’s brakes were unsafe.
He said about nine Ministry employees, including the driver, arrived from Tongatapu on Tuesday.
Lapota said he was surprised when he found out the roller went to Kauvai Talau through the Vaipua bridge.
He said that route included a very steep street to Hihifo and if the driver was from Vava’u he would have taken the route through Leimātu’a and Tefisi instead.
Social media
A video taken at the scene has been posted to Facebook.
Some Facebook users expressed confusion about how the incident could have happened.
Critics of the government’s multi-million roading project used the incident to criticise the government.
“What goes around comes around,” one critic wrote in Tongan.
Critics of the roading project claim it was engineered by politicians who defected and voted for the Tu’i’onetoa government. They argue the multi-million budget should have been spent on something more important.
The Minister of Infrastructure has been contacted for comment.
