FEATURE: Malaita's road to recovery

Radio Australia's Jemima Garrett reports from Malaita on how road construction work is helping the people of Solomon Islands recover from the years of ethnic violence.

Jemima Garrett

Last Updated: Tue, 8 Jun 2010 14:56:00 +1000

It's now seven years since the Pacific's Regional Assistance Mission arrived in Solomon Islands and people started rebuilding their lives after the years of ethnic violence.

During the ethnic tension around 20,000 Malaitans were driven off the island of Guadalcanal and many people lost their livelihoods.

The ethnic violence started when Guadalcanal landowners fought back against what they saw as their island being overrun by people from other Islands. The violence affected even the most remote rural communities.

Despite the return of law and order, the people of Malaita have struggled to get their lives back on track.

For years, many people, dependent on income from crops, found life during and after the ethnic tension, very difficult.

Brown Fono, brother of Deputy PM, Fred Fono, and cocoa agent, says it was extremely difficult to earn an income after the tensions because of the damage done to infrastructure.

"The condition of the roads was very poor so we had to use outboard motors (on small boats) to transfer the cocoa from home to Auki...by boat, it was very expensive from where we are."

The creation of jobs and income earning opportunities on Malaita and Guadalcanal, the two main islands involved in the conflict, has been a priority of the Solomon Islands government and international donors.

Rebuilding roads

Roads - the economic lifeblood of the country - has been at the centre of their strategy.

Solomon Islands government got together with RAMSI and donors such as AusAID and the Asian Development Bank to rebuild shattered infrastructure.

Hundreds of Malaitans have now been employed rebuilding or maintaining roads.

Francis Deeko, an experienced roadwork supervisor, who returned to Malaita because of the ethnic tension, says there's been a vast improvement to communities on Malaita because of the work on the roads.

"I'm working with all my staff here, every dump truck driver and plant operator here. After the tensions we have made a lot of improvement.

"We have been working along the south road here for two years, up along the east road, the three sections to Auki centre, what we have come across is that communities are very happy with what we are doing for them."

Transport operator John Ulasi says the new roads have made a difference to his business and to his community.

"Before it took about three to four hours when the road was no good," he said.

"Since 2006, it only take two hours to come down to Auki with passengers...it gives us access to Auki, to go for medical for treatment, to come to the market and even go to Honaira (the Solomon Islands captial)."

The Premier of Malaita province, Richard Iroseaea, says he has seen an increase in business as well.

"The various programs that are being funded under AusAID after the ethnic tension is also contributing to the cash flow in the rural communities, especially the road maintenance program, and since 2004-5 there's been quite a good increase in the commodity price for copra and cocoa. So those are contributing factors to the sustainability of business activities in the island."

Every Pacific Island country has sent some of their people to Solomon Islands as a part of the Regional Assistance Mission.

But there are others like Grace Ma'ai from Enga province in Papua New Guinea, who have come under their own steam.

Ms Ma'ai is one of four engineers employed by the Solomon Islands Ministry of Infrastructure to supervise road projects on Malaita.

She is pleased all the work going into the roads is paying off.

"There are more transport owners using all the roads. We have daily ships coming through the Auki wharf and we have about two barges every week and they always have two three four vehicles or trucks coming in and every time you see the work yard, you see people coming in with new vehicles."

Providing jobs

Another innovation of the roads projects has been the use of labour-based maintenance as a way or providing jobs, especially for women.

Moses Virivolomo from the Solomon Islands the Ministry of Infrastructure says the new road maintenance method uses basic equipment and lots of people - so there are many more jobs available.

"We can double the amount of roads we can maintain by doing labour-based equipment support method."

"It helps us to help other islands that we've been unable to reach because of financial restrictions. By involving the communities and small labour-based contractors we are able to now cover the entire country with this method," he says.

The new labour-based road maintenance methods are also helping women get jobs and offering new opportunities to small businesses.

Road maintenance gangs are employed by indigenous road maintenance companies.

The Ministry of Infrastructure helps locals to learn how to set up a company and how to bid for work. Many of these companies are run by women.

Roland Niu is a road-gang supervisor who is quite happy working for a female boss.

"It doesn't mind to me whether its female or male but if they have got the same mind like I have got, we both co-operate together and work in the system like this."

If you travel along roads on Guadalcanal or Malaita you will find more than half the road workers are women.

The work being done with road maintenance and job-creation in Solomon Islands is becoming a model for the region.

Similar projects have been started in Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu and Tonga and more are planned. And in Solomon Islands, the Ministry of Infrastructure is ready for the next step - helping its indigenous road maintenance companies grow and take on a wider range of work.

And while business in Auki is humming again because of the road work, there is still a long way to go before there are enough income opportunities for everyone on Malaita, especially for young people who feel the pull of the bright lights of Honiara.