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“KUDOS TO REP SANITOA FOR STAYING ON MESSAGE”

Dear Editor,

For quite sometime now I have been amazed by the tenacity, single mindedness and determination of the Honorable Representative for Tualauta, Larry Sanitoa, to try and force the Department of Public works into doing something positive about the diabolical state of our roads and the areas that always flood, and have flooded for years in the same place in his county.

I am surprised that there has not been any form of action taken by the many motorists who have had their tires cut and shredded and their suspensions on their new and not so new vehicles almost ripped off by bouncing and swerving along the roads in and out of the craters before some of them having their engines die due to water ingress- having just had to try and negotiate the best route through the lakes on these roads that are feet deep in flood water.

The only visible action taken recently by DPW has been to fill up the pot holes with a sandy soil-like material which is quickly washed away in the next heavy downpour with the material finding it’s way to the nearest drain and adding to an already clogged condition due to the papers, trash and grass that accumulates due to a lack of clearing on a regular basis.

Honorable Representative Sanitoa must be congratulated for sticking to his harassment of DPW, but he has been a lone voice all this time. Where are all his colleagues in this campaign from the House and the Senate? Why has there not been a joint plan of action to ensure that something is done? Why must the Honorable Representative be continually palmed off by DPW saying that they do not have funds to fix the problems as they are more serious than just filling in potholes and therefore the cost element is beyond their means?

Pot holes, seriously deteriorating road surfaces and floods are not new issues, yet week after week we have to learn to drive our cars like drunks at the wheel, with other road users making the most unpredictable diversions and some even driving down the sidewalks to try and avoid damaging their vehicles.

I hope that the new Administration can find the time to assist and support Representative Sanitoa in his one man crusade and take up this matter with the DPW, the Department of Highways, the Department of the Interior and any other Federal agency that could assist with funding to alleviate our road problems as soon into their term as possible. Good for you Rep— keep up the good work.

David Robinson

Chairman, Chamber of Commerce