PHASE 2 HIGHWAY PROJECT

Phase 2

Highway Project

The second phase of the Kukum Highway Project funded by the Japanese Government is progressing steadily with road construction of the 6.6 km stretch of road from Henderson International Airport to the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources, now underway starting at the eastern end of Honiara.

By DOUGLAS SAEFOA

THE current work in progress is evident further East of Honiara from the Lungga Bridge to Honiara International Airport. This segment of the project will include a full upgrade of the existing 2-lane road, which spans a distance of 2.03 km including the road on the Lungga Bridge. This road upgrade will include improved pavement, drainage facilities/ culverts, structure, road ancillaries (signs, marking, guard rails/kerbing), etc. The 2-lane section was designed in consideration of the existing Lungga Bridge, roadside facilities, underground utilities, and the Right of Way (ROW) control points. Horizontal alignment of the 4-lane road shall be determined in consideration of a future extended 4-Lane Road. According to the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the cross-sectional elements of the 2-lane section shall be planned so that the negative impact on the roads constructed in this Project will be minimized when carrying out a 4-lane widening project in the future. This means that the current 2-lane section is considered as a provisional 2-lane. The widening direction of the future 4-lane will be set on the downstream side of the Lungga River. Further into the project will be the Rehabilitation of the road from the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources to the Lungga Bridge (4 lanes, 4.3 km). Work on the 4-lane road from Lungga bridge to the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources will be implemented in two scopes. The first 2km from the Lungga bridge to the Sol2023 Games Village at the King George section of the road will be fully upgraded. The construction design includes designated roadside facilities, underground utilities and ROW as control points in studying the alignments. The finished surface level at Burns Creek will also be raised. JICA explained that this is necessary to avoid

inundation during the run-off over 10 years. The current design will also minimize median openings and provide an exclusive U-turn Lane for improving traffic conditions. The new central island outer diameter is a minimum of 27 m, an increase from the previous which was an 18 m 2-lance circulatory road. The remaining 2.3 km of the 4-lane road from the Sol2023 Games village at King George to the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources along the Kukum Highway will be the overlay section. Road works will include Asphalt overlay on top of the existing pavement and installation of drainage facilities for flooding mitigation. According to JICA the existing drainage system along the project area shall be respected. In the design plans the project design team, CTI Engineering International Co. Ltd noted that since the capacity of the existing drainage facilities at the flow endpoints is insufficient, upgrading the road-crossing facilities is planned considering the discharge from the catchment area. Pacific Tenders understands that water treated by drainage facilities in the project is only stormwater. Sewage water is not considered in the project thus, it needs to be considered in other projects. An engineer from the Ministry of Infrastructure and Development’s Central Project Implementation Unit (MIDCPIU) told Pacific Tenders that even if drainage facilities are completed in the project the high risk of flooding still remains unless the drainages in the downstream side up to the sea are improved/developed by the responsible authorities. As is the case for phase 1 of the project, the existing cross drainage structures shall be replaced with new box culverts. With regards to ensuring ease of traffic congestion, JICA noted that the Lungga bus terminal remains as one of the traffic bottlenecks of the road project. Considering that this terminal will be required to be relocated when the 4-lane widening project is carried out in the future, in the meantime, improvements shall be made as a tentative measure by providing a lane divider between in/outbound carriageways under a one-way operation. This measure will contribute to the mitigation of traffic congestion as this will prevent the road users from making U-turns at the bus terminal. On the other hand, JICA explained that since there is a 5m margin in front of the AJ City mall currently located on the opposite side to the bus terminal, a tentative bus terminal at this site will be provided.

PROJECT UPDATE

Nofokava Construction

Project Name: Construction of Tabaá Bridge and Kwai Bridge Contract Amount: SBD 8.7million Project Fully Completed: February 2022 Locality: On the North Malaita Road

SCOPE:

Tabaá Bridge was replaced with a New Bailey Bridge while the Kwai bridge was replaced with a composite bridge.

FUNDING SOURCE:

Project was funded from the SIG Economic Stimulus Package Funds(ESP)