Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1697734596388.pdf (Fiji)
__________________________________________________________________________________ STANDING COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC ACCOUNTS Review of the Performance Audit Report on Management of Traffic Congestion A look at how transportation demands are managed PARLIAMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF FIJI Parliamentary Paper No.
147 of 2020 Published and printed by the Department of Legislature, Parliament House, Government Buildings, Suva March, 2021 TABLE OF CONTENT CHAIRPERSON‟S FOREWORD ............................................................................................................................................... 1 COMMITTEE MEMBERS .......................................................................................................................................................... 2 ACRONYMS .............................................................................................................................................................................. 3 INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................................................................... 4 COMMITTEE PROCEDURE................................................................................................................................................. 4 COMMITTEE MEMBERS ..................................................................................................................................................... 4 BACKGROUND .................................................................................................................................................................... 5 KEY FINDINGS .......................................................................................................................................................................... 6 1.
INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK ................................................................................................................................. 6 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Legislative Framework ....................................................................................................................................... 6 Stakeholder Arrangement and Framework ........................................................................................................ 9 Policy Framework ............................................................................................................................................ 10 Integrated Transport Assessment .................................................................................................................... 11 National Transport Consultative Forum ........................................................................................................... 13 Increased Number of Vehicles on Fiji‟s Roads ................................................................................................ 14 Human Capacity to Manage Traffic Congestion .............................................................................................. 15 2.
ADDRESSING THE TRANSPORTATION DEMAND CAUSES OF CONGESTION ................................................. 19 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 Public Transport Service Improvement ............................................................................................................ 19 Electronic Road Pricing Initiatives ................................................................................................................... 20 Dedicated Bus Lanes ....................................................................................................................................... 21 Carpooling ....................................................................................................................................................... 22 Cycling & Pedestrian ....................................................................................................................................... 24 Leveraging opportunities for transportation demand management ................................................................. 25 Implications for future investments decisions .................................................................................................. 27 Duty of Traffic Police Officer on Public Road ................................................................................................... 27 Review of the on-street car parking ................................................................................................................. 29 3.
MONITORING, EVALUATION AND REPORTING STRATEGIES............................................................................ 30 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 Monitoring congestion management initiatives ................................................................................................ 30 Governance Arrangements for monitoring and reporting ................................................................................ 34 Monitoring Congestion Patterns ...................................................................................................................... 36 Monitoring Network Efficiency ......................................................................................................................... 39 Centralised System for Data Collection, Analysis and Sharing ....................................................................... 40 Monitoring into action responses/program modification .................................................................................. 42 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS .......................................................................................................................... 44 COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONS ..................................................................................................................................... 49 CONCLUSION ......................................................................................................................................................................... 50 APPENDICES .......................................................................................................................................................................... 52 i CHAIRPERSON’S FOREWORD The negative effects of traffic congestion are many, from increased stress levels, increasing energy use, pollution beyond deliveries, but stalling local economies may not be one of them.
In Fiji, during school breaks, traffic congestion eases.

However, when schools resume, business activities increase, from school pick up and drop off, increased orders for uniforms, purchasing of stationery and teachers travelling to schools.

Whilst most strategies adopted to reduce traffic congestions will greatly impact reduced energy use and pollution, it is important to note how such policies can affect economic growth.
The Performance Audit report investigated the traffic congestion along the Suva to Nausori corridor.

This is characterised by road length of about 20km connecting land travellers between Suva City and the developing town of Nausori with around 6,000 of its citizens needing to move the same time each day in the same direction.

This is according to the Extrapolated from Carpooling Survey undertaken by LTA Transport Planning and Statistics Department in October 2016.
This immediately causes traffic congestion during peak hours.

This means the travelling public would be spending an average of two hours to travel between these two destinations.

Traffic congestion is a sign of economic growth but if not properly managed, it can have negative implications that neutralises the factors that drove the same economic growth in the first place.
In Fiji, the Household Travel Survey 2018 report shows not only increased household car ownership but also increased local tourism, increased travel time for official work with low vehicle occupancy with 67 per cent of vehicles carrying no passengers.

The scope of the audit was to assess the effectiveness of the three areas with management of traffic congestion namely the Institutional Framework, Addressing the Transportation Demand and Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting Strategies.
The Committee noted however, that the Audit Report did not cover issues surrounding the carbon emissions, time wastage, delays resulting in late arrivals, inability to forecast travel time accurately, stressed and frustrated motorists, induced spill over into secondary roads and side streets as Fijians look for other ways and means to reach their destinations on time.
I wish to extend my appreciation to all Honourable Members of the Committee who were part of the successful compilation of this bipartisan report namely, Hon.

Joseph Nand, Hon.

Virendra Lal, Hon.

Ro Teimumu Kepa, Hon.

Aseri Radrodro and former MP Mr. Vijendra Prakash.

I also extend my sincere gratitude to the Hon.

Mikaele Leawere, who stood in as an alternate member during the committee deliberation process.
On behalf of the Committee, I also extend my appreciation to the Secretariat Staff for their timely support during the scrutiny process and the compilation of this report.

Hon.

Alvick Avhikrit Maharaj Chairperson 1 COMMITTEE MEMBERS Hon.

Alvick Avhikrit Maharaj (Chairperson) Hon.

Joseph Nitya Nand (Deputy Chairperson) (Opposition Member) Hon.

Aseri Masivou Radrodro Hon.

Ro Teimumu Kepa (Opposition Member) Hon.
Virendra Lal (Government Member) 2 ACRONYMS Bus Rapid Transit BRT Chief Executive Officer CEO COMPol Commissioner of Police COVID-19 2019 Novel Coronavirus Department of Transport DoT Expression of Interest EoI Electronic Road Pricing ERP Fiji Bureau of Statistics FBOS Fiji Police Force FPF Fiji Roads Authority FRA Fiji Sugar Corporation FSC Geographical Information System GIS Greater Suva Transportation Strategy GSTS International Road Assessing Programme IRAP Integrated Transport Master Plan ITMP Intelligent Transport System ITS Kilometre KM Land Transport Authority LTA Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport MoIT Memorandum of Understanding MoU National Development Plan NDP National Transport Coordinating Committee NTCC National Transport Consultative Forum NTCF Office of the Auditor General OAG Operational Control Centre OCC Public Sector Investment Programme PSIP Permanent Secretary PS Public Service Vehicle PSV Private Public Partnership PPP Road User Charging RUC Sustainable Development Goal SDG Sustainable Cities and Communities SDG 11 Strategic Development Plan SDP Standing Order SO State Owned Enterprises SOE Standard Operating Procedures SOP Single Occupant Vehicle SOV Sustainable Urban Transport Index SUTI Traffic Congestion Solution Paper TCSP Transportation Demand Management TDM Traffic Impact Assessment TIA Terms of Reference ToR Transport Technical Working Group TTWG United Nations UN 3 INTRODUCTION The audit carried out was to assess the institutional framework for the management of the Traffic Congestion along the Suva – Nausori corridor care adequate and effective.
The audit also assessed the extent of implementing the existing and proposed frameworks and institutional arrangements in managing the road congestion problem along the Suva – Nausori corridor.

The audit also examined whether the efforts of the lead agencies in the form of congestion management strategies and initiatives are effective and efficient.
Moreover, the audit also examined whether the monitoring and reporting arrangements over the implementation of the framework, strategies and initiatives are effective.

Such arrangements will determine whether the planned congestion management strategies are followed through and achieve not only the targeted outputs but the necessary outcomes to manage the problem of traffic congestion.
COMMITTEE PROCEDURE The Novel Coronavirus Disease renamed as COVID-19 was declared by the World Health Organization as a global pandemic on 11 March 20201.

The Parliament of the Republic of Fiji therefore undertook necessary precautionary measures to control the spread of the new virus strand outbreak.
In view of the above, pursuant to SO 112 (1) (b), the Standing Committee has the powers to “compel the production of documents or other materials or information as required for its proceedings and deliberations” The Committee had requested for written responses from the Ministry of Commerce, Trade, Tourism & Transport (Department of Transport), Land Transport Authority, Fiji Roads Authority, Fiji Police Force and the Ministry of Local Government (Department of Town & Country Planning and the Department of Local Government to the questions raised by the Committee in relation to the Report of the Auditor General on the Performance Audit on Management of Traffic Congestion (Parliamentary Paper No.
11 of 2020) COMMITTEE MEMBERS Pursuant to SO 118 (1), “A majority of the members of the standing committee shall constitute a quorum”.

The substantive members of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts are:– 1.

Hon.

Alvick Maharaj, MP (Chairperson) 2.

Hon.

Joseph Nitya Nand, MP (Deputy Chairperson) 3.

Hon.

Virendra Lal, MP (Member) 4.

Hon.

Ro Teimumu Kepa, MP (Member) 5.

Hon.


Aseri Masivou Radrodro, MP (Member) During a Committee meeting, the following membership arose pursuant to Standing Order 115 (5): 1.

Hon.

Mikaele Leawere (Alternate Member for Hon.

Aseri Masivou Radrodro) 1 https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/events-as-they-happen 4 BACKGROUND There has been an increasing concern from the public with regards to traffic congestion.
A survey was conducted by the Department of Transport on 8 February 2017 and it was estimated that it takes approximately two hours to travel from Nakasi to Suva in the morning.

The existence of traffic congestion is a possible indication of inefficiency in the road transport management.
There are various causes to this such as rapid economic growth, employment opportunities in the cities, preference for car ownership, barriers and obstacles on roads, lack of alternative public transport options and poor land use and transport planning.
In light of the above, the excessive congestion has led to undesirable consequences including the increased costs to the community and businesses through linger, less predictable travel times, lost productivity additional running costs of vehicles including energy consumption and more pollution to the environment from the fumes of travelling vehicles spending more time on the road.
It can be said that traffic congestion can have a negative impact on Government‟s goal of providing a coordinated transport system that is safe, affordable, efficient, cost effective, environmentally and economically sustainable.

5 KEY FINDINGS 1.
5 KEY FINDINGS 1.

INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK This section covers the institutional framework on the Management of Traffic Congestion in relation to the existing legislations, policies and arrangements in place to manage traffic congestion and the availability of sufficient human capacity to effectively manage traffic congestion.

Legislative Framework 1.1 Several legislation, policies and plans require amendments and reviews.
If the legislation is not revised when required, then it will not address the current or forthcoming risks and challenges.

Regular amendments and reviews are essential to focus on the changing circumstances or make laws that are compatible to those changing circumstances.
Tabulated below is a summary of legislation and regulations governing the Transportation Sector in Fiji:– Legislation Land Transport Act 1998 Explanatory Note The powers to control traffic and parking is described in section 73 of the Land Transport Act 1998.

The powers mentioned in this section are shared between the LTA enforcement officers and the Police.

These powers include directing traffic, seizing and removing vehicles and arresting people loitering on public streets.
These powers work well with the Police as it allows them to exercise their powers to arrest.
Section 8 of the Act states that the functions of the Authority are:– (a) To devise, initiate, and carry out measures for the coordination, improvement and economic operation of passenger transport and goods transport by road; (b) To ensure so far as is practicable the provision of road transport passenger services adequate to meet the requirements of the public; (c) To register vehicles, license drivers and establish standards for such registration and licensing consistent with the objectives of road safety; (d) To develop and implement traffic management strategies and practices consistent with the needs of road users and the objectives of road safety, in conjunction with higher authorities; (e) To develop and implement enforcement strategies in consultation with the Commission of Police consistent with road safety and road infrastructure protection objectives; (f) To do anything incidental or conducive to the performance of any of the preceding functions.
Section 61 of the Act provides for carpooling however, despite the Land Transport Authority‟s creating awareness and encouraging the citizens of Fiji to practice carpooling, it is yet to enforce the law.

Fiji Roads Authority Act 2012 Section 113 of the Act provides for the owner of the vehicle to advise the Authority when a vehicle is scrapped or leaves the country.
Part 2 Section 6 of the Act states that the Authority shall be responsible for all matters pertaining to construction, maintenance and development of roads in Fiji, including but not limited to the following:– (a) Managing (land provision, network planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, renewing and generally managing the use of) all roads; (b) Traffic Management (including road design, traffic signs and markings); 6 Legislation Explanatory Note Police Act 1965 Bicycles Act 1939 Railway Act 1976 (c) Road Safety (relating to provision and management of the road; (d) The issuing of over-width, height and lengths limit; (e) Planning and management of road survey and design; (f) Provide advise, programme management services, design, supervision services for capital works programme; and (g) For such other matters, as the Minister may direct.
Part IV, Section 23 (1) of the Act states that the duties of the Force is:– (a) to regulate and control traffic (b) to divert all or any particular kind of traffic, when it is in the public interest to do so; (c) to keep order on public roads, thorough fares and landing places, and at other places of public resort or places to which the public have access; and (d) to prevent obstructions on the occasions of assemblies and processions on the public roads and streets, an in any case when any road, street, thoroughfare or landing place may be thronged or any be liable to be obstructed.
The above requirements of the Act are mainstreamed into the Maritime and Land Transport Policy which the Fiji Police Road Traffic Unit is obligated to perform its duty.

The Policy outlines those major traffic operations as on-road enforcement of speed limits, testing for drugs and alcohol impairment and attendance at the scene of road traffic crashes and recording of crash details.

The above legislation specifies the duties of the Force to keep order on public roads.
The Force‟s 2015 – 2019 Strategic Plan with the objective of „effective traffic control management‟ that emphasises on strengthening collaboration with partner agencies to enable the free flow of traffic, promoting road safety through education, innovation and targeted enforcement, embracing technology as a tool for deterring road and traffic related offences.

The Act generally describes the law in terms of bicycle riding requirements, where should people ride the bicycles (i.e.
not on or along any footpath or footway), bicycle registration, change of ownership, licensing, seizure of bicycles and penalty, etc.

The Act does not specifically highlight any law on having bicycle lands as one of the major modes of transportation for the citizens.

There is no specific legislation that encourages the use of bicycles as one of the main modes of transportation.
The Maritime and Land Transport Policy highlights that the Bicycles Act provides for the identification and regulation of bicycles.

It relates to their ownership and use and also to dealers and repairers.

It is not clear why bicycles require special legislation, excerpt that they are not covered under legislation dealing with motor vehicles or vehicles in general.

The Act provides for the regulation of the transportation of passengers and goods by railway.
The powers are vested in the Central Traffic Authority, subsumed into the Land Transport Authority.

Under the act, all railways must be licensed, and no distinction is made between railways used for public carriage on public land versus private railways on private land.
The main need for the regulation of railways is for traffic management where railways cross or lie within road reserves and where there is shared public road access over rail bridges owned by the Fiji Sugar Corporation (FSC) 7 Legislation Explanatory Note Land Transport Regulations 2000 The railway act requires the Authority (LTA) to make regulations for the purpose of regulating the use of railways and the transportation of passengers and goods thereon.
Further to the Land Transport Act 1998, LTA is governed by the Land Transport Regulations that deals with Traffic movement and other related issues.
These regulations include:–  Land Transport (Vehicle Registration & Construction) Regulations 2000  Land Transport (Drivers) Regulations 2000  Land Transport (Vehicles) Regulations 2000  Land Transport (Fees & Penalties) Regulations 2000  Land Transport (Photogenic Detection Devices) Regulations 2000  Land Transport (Electronic Ticketing) Regulations 2000 FRA advised the Committee that there was no overlap in the role between the FRA Act and the LTA Act.
The only overlapping function that exists in the FRA Act was the powers of FRA in enforcing vehicle load limits which conflicts with similar powers granted to LTA under the LTA Act.

The FRA Act was then amended in 2014 to remove this enforcement power from FRA so that all manner of enforcement over transport on land now exclusively falls in LTA‟s jurisdiction.

Therefore the legislative framework for both organisations was quite sufficient as it clearly demarcates the role of each organisation.
Other entity (FRA) constructs the infrastructure for land transport whilst other entity (LTA) deals with registration of land transport, enforcement for breaches on the road, and enforcement of damage to infrastructure.

Currently, there were no overlap between the two entities and FRA stated that was no need for an amendment to the FRA Act.
Also noted, that as far as the coordination between the two entities is concerned, the challenges jointly faced by both entities were mostly resource allocation to allow for adequate protection of road assets and lack of manpower for law enforcement against those who damage the infrastructure.
Furthermore, FRA was of the view that the DoT should develop a policy or framework on the Bicycle Act to guide their oversight role, including policy advice, planning, coordination and engagement with stakeholders, monitoring and evaluation of systems and processes.

On the other hand, the Department of Transport advised that the enforcement of the land transport- related matters was undertaken by the LTA, the Fiji Police Force and the municipal councils.
These two agencies were already covered in the Land Transport Act.

The FRA was responsible for development of infrastructure; hence they were covered by the Roads Act.

The responsibility of the Traffic Management Strategies was with the LTA.

There was no overlapping of responsibilities between these two agencies.

However, there was a technical working group that looks at the wider scope of matching infrastructure development with the land transport needs of the country.
The Committee was also informed that the Bicycles Act will be reviewed and the ToR will be developed in the 2020-2021 financial year to look at provisions that would give bicycle owners/riders equal space, accessibility and rights to the usage of the road.

The Ministry also looked at railways as an alternative means of transport.

A pre-feasibility study had been undertaken in consultation with the experts from the Indian Railway.
This report would form the 8 basis of any future decisions discussions with regards to considering railways as an alternative transportation mode.
The Fiji Police Force response guidelines are provided below:  Police Act Cap 85  Land Transport Act 35 of 1998  Crimes Decree 2009 and the Force Standing Orders  Fiji Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020  Fiji Police Road Safety Action Plan 2020-21  TCD Annual Business Plan 2020-21  TCD Proactive Strategies 2020-21  CPs Directive on Traffic Congestion coverage during peak hours morning and afternoon around the Country.
Actions by the Fiji Police Force The Committee was informed that the Fiji Police Force had adopted various means and ways of combating the issue of Traffic Congestion by increasing the number of manpower to control the (traffic) situation.

With the growing number of motor vehicles on our roads, traffic congestion is now a major issue all throughout the country.
Stakeholder Arrangement and Framework 1.2 Absence of formal agreement between and Memorandum of Understanding between the Department of Transport and other transportation agencies.
The audit revealed that the Department of Transport does not have a formal agreement or Memorandum of Understanding with other agencies which have a role in Traffic Management such as the Fiji Roads Authority, Fiji Police Force and the Department of Town and Country Planning to encourage coordination and an integrated transport planning system.
The Department of Transport is responsible for policy, administrative, regulatory and operational services to Government, the Transport Statutory Authorities, the private sector and the public at large.
According to the Victorian Competition and Efficiency Commission (2006) on managing transport congestion revealed that in order to improve the management of transport congestion, institutional changes are needed to include a stronger role for public transport, a single transport budget and common project appraisal criteria2 At the moment, the structure of the Transport Sector Institution in Fiji is as follows:– 2 Making the right choices: Options for managing traffic congestion, Managing Traffic Congestion of the State of Victoria, Australia, Section 9.2.4, pp.
382-383 - https://www.dtf.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/2018-02/making-the-right-choices-options-for-managing-congestion.pdf 9 Source: Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport – Strategic Development Plan 2019 - 2022 The National Transport Consultative Forum (NTCF) played a valuable role in fostering dialogue between public and private sectors that is essential in promoting a mutual understanding of issues, demands and constraints in the Transport sector.
However, the audit noted that the NTCF meetings have not been held as funding was not provided in the 2019-20 National Budget.
It was noted that the Department of Transport, in consultation with other stakeholders in the Transport sector, has set up a Technical Working Group in order to consult and work together with the Government representatives, private sector and relevant stakeholders which allow them to discuss, address and find possible solutions on pressing or urgent issues affecting the land transport sector.
The Committee was informed from the Department of Transport that there was a technical working group that comprises of all agencies that deals with land transport.

The working group allows for coordination between these agencies.

All agencies were governed by their respective legislations that allows for these agencies to coordinate amongst each other within the parameters of their legal requirements.
Policy Framework 1.3 Absence of Policy Framework hindering the core roles of the Department of Transport.

The rational for a policy framework was to ensure that the organisational policies were established, applied, monitored and reviewed consistently and appropriately across the organisation.

Such a framework would make all organisational policies subject to a formal approval process.
The Maritime and Land Transport Policy recognised that the role of the Department of Transport had not been recognised in any legislative mandate.

Rather, the Department‟s mandate was derived from the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport and the Maritime and Land Transport Policy was cascaded into the Ministry‟s Strategic and Operational plans.
10 During the audit, it was found that the Department of Transport indicated that there is policy making and review framework however, the framework was not provided for the audit review despite numerous requests made to the Department.
The absence of action plans and clear objectives to resolve major transport issues through the Maritime and Land Transport policies and forums such as the National Transport Coordinating Committee (NTCC) means that policies and strategies are just plans and more is needed to bring out positive changes regarding traffic congestion.

The Committee was advised that the Maritime and Transport Policies have replaced the 20 year Fiji National Transport Sector Plan (1993-2013).
This policy will be reviewed along with the relevant Acts, in the 2020-2021 financial year.

The Maritime and Transport Policies is for 20 years and was launched in 2014.

The Department of Transport‟s key role is to provide the Hon.

Minister with policy advice, planning and coordination with stakeholders.
Integrated Transport Assessment 1.4 Lack of Coordination and proper systematic approach in ensuring that Traffic Impact Assessments (TIA’s) are conducted and the requirements are met for any new or re-developments The Fiji Roads Authority is responsible for setting the Terms of Reference and approving the results and recommendations of ITA‟s for development.
The FRA in consultation with the Department of Transport and other stakeholders such as the Department of Town and Country Planning and Municipal Councils will develop a TIA policy and guideline that will apply to either new or old development.
The Committee noted that the Office of the Auditor General met with the officials of Fiji Roads Authority on 12 July 2019 and revealed that FRA was not consulted on the development of the new building constructed along McGregor Road in terms of the traffic impact assessment or even the proposed arrangements for the entry and existing of vehicles.
Further to the above, the Department of Town and Country Planning mentioned during the meeting with the audit team that the building along McGregor Road was an oversight by the former Director.

The Department failed to carry out the TIA prior to the construction but did not eventuate.
The Town Planning Act 1978 Cap 139 (1946) and Town Planning (Interim Development) Regulation 1960 incorporates the provisions for traffic management as follows:– 16 OBJECTIVE OF THE SCHEME (1) A scheme may be made, in accordance with the provisions of this Act, with respect to any land with the general object of controlling the development of the land to which such scheme applies, and of securing suitable provision for traffic, transportation, disposition of commercial, residential and industrial areas, proper sanitary conditions, amenities and conveniences, parks, gardens and reserves, and of making suitable provision of the use of land for building and other purposes, and as more particularly set out in the schedule 11 SCHEDULE (Sections 8 and 9) – MATTERS WHICH MAY BE DEALT WITH BY GENERAL PROVISIONS IN A TOWN PLANNING SCHEME (9) The making, fixing and altering and ascertaining of building lines irrespective of the width or alignment of any street, road or right of way, to secure as far as practicable, having regard to the physical features of the site and depth of the existing subdivisions, that the distance between the building to be erected or buildings likely to be reconstructed, on opposite sides of the street, road or right of way, shall not be less than that fixed by the scheme, according to the prospective traffic requirements of such street, road or right of way.
Town Planning (Interim Development) Regulation 1960 Schedule 2 states that no development shall be carried out which creates an obstruction to the view of persons using any road used by vehicular traffic at or near any bend, corner, junction or intersection so as to be likely to cause danger to such persons.

Integrated Transport Assessments and Traffic Impact Assessments help give an insight of the impact of the development proposals on the entire transport network.
It is a requirement of FRA that every applicant must engage in consultation with the Authority before undertaking any works.

In order for the applicants to abide by this requirement, the FRA has developed a ToR and a checklist for the Traffic Impact Assessment.
The audit noted that there is no particular mention in both the Town & Country Planning Act (Chapter 139) and the Subdivision of Land Act (Chapter 140) that the Director of Town & Country Planning shall obtain and take into consideration the comments of any referral agencies relating to utilities, infrastructure & transport.

The Committee was advised that the Ministry has begun work on an Integrated Transport Assessment, which will create an Integrated Transport Master Plan for Fiji.
Integrated transport planning involves land use planning and transport planning to ensure connectivity in all three modes of transport.

A national exercise is being led by the Department of Town and Country Planning to develop an Integrated Development Master Plan along several corridors (e.g.

Great Western Development Corridor etc.)

around Fiji, to which the Department of Transport will contribute to.
On an operational scale, as an outcome of consultations in our technical working groups, Traffic Impact Assessments (TIA) before any development is made was proposed.

The FRA requires the TIA to be conducted prior to any major developments.

The TIAs form part of the condition of an Integrated Transport Assessment as prerequisites for application to new development.

The TIA process is a critical component of the building permits approval process.
The Ministry of Local Government‟s Town and Country Planning Department is working with the Singapore Cooperation Enterprises Team on a Master Plan for the greater Suva area.

This Master Plan is designed to be the principle planning document guiding the integration of land use and transport planning considerations.
Using best practice planning principles, the Master Plan will then be implemented through the review of the Town Planning Schemes for the Municipal Councils in the Greater Suva, Nadi & Lautoka areas.

12 The transportation principle of having expressways linking strategic locations, an in particular, traversing industrial and commercial zoned land is paramount.
The promotion of public transport and better connectivity between neighbourhood centres such as Nasinu & Nausori, Suva & Lami is another mid-long term consideration that will of course need to be realised through proper feasibility studies.

The construction of the by-pass road is anticipated to ease the traffic congestion.

The provision of the bypass is part of the 2050 Master Plan recommendation for the Greater Suva, Nadi & Lautoka.
The by- pass road will be subject to feasibility studies and acquisition of land/properties.

The Committee was advised that discussions are still on-going with the Singapore Master Planning Team on the same.

The Ministry of Local Government notes that the traffic congestion is confined to the mornings and the afternoons.
The Ministry is of the view that the traffic congestion needs a collaborative approach between key stakeholders such as Fiji Roads Authority, Land Transport Authority and the Fiji Police Force.

Regular data is or to be collected to inform evidence based decisions on future options including dedicated bus lanes, increased clearways and tow-away zones.
Further, the on-going monitoring of the enforcement of Municipal Councils on the removal of derelict vehicles and the towing of illegal vehicles is essential.

The Council are usually faced with issues of abandoned vehicles on road sides and road reserves that normally cause congestion along the areas.

The Enforcement Officers based at the Councils are required to issue notice and remove these vehicles and ensure a safe environment for the public.
The timely removal of the dilapidated vehicles will ease the traffic congestion.

National Transport Consultative Forum 1.5 Issues discussed during the National Transport Consultative Forum (NTCF) are rarely resolved and reappear from one forum to the next The audit noted that majority of the strategies listed in the NTCF has simply been brought forward from the 14th Session Communiqué (2016) to the 15th Session Communiqué (2018).
There are specific themes that were allocated for each NTCFs based on discussions that were drawn upon.

Within these themes, the issue of traffic congestion has been incorporated as part of the discussion.

The National Transport Coordinating Committee (NTCC) was established in the past but has been in abeyance for some time and if appropriately constituted and tasked, the committee would perform its role.
In the absence of the NTCC, the Department of Transport has been organising the NTCF to create a platform for dialogue between all the transport agencies on themes related to transport issues.

It was noted that the minutes of the meeting of the Transport Technical Working Group (TTWG) and the Fiji National Consultative Forum Report updates the Minister on the outcomes of the Forum however, audit reviewed that the minutes and reports were not endorsed.
Since the National Transport Consultative Forum ceased with effect in 2019, the TTWG only discusses issues at the operational level and the discussions in the meeting are not high level.

The Department of Transport advised that any operational issues discussed in TTWG shall be addressed directly to the relevant stakeholders concerned.

The Department of Transport does not have the powers to influence operational matters of the transport sector stakeholders.
The audit is of the view that with the revival of the National Transport Coordinating Committee, it can include essential stakeholders such as the Chief Executive Officers, Permanent Secretaries and heads of the Transport Sector stakeholders where it could combat issues at the strategic level whereas the 13 TTWG continues to address issues at the operational level.

The issues discussed at operational level could be used to update the Committee.
Such combined efforts will give a holistic approach in finding solutions related to the management of traffic congestion and other land transport matters.

The Committee was advised that the Ministry will first establish the Integrated Transport Master Plan and will consider the NTCC to be the implementing arm to achieve the objectives of the master plan.

It should be noted that the Technical Working Group is providing the necessary coordination and consultation amongst all the relevant agencies.
Increased Number of Vehicles on Fiji’s Roads 1.6 Significant increase in the volume of imported vehicles due to provision of low duty concession has contributed to the issue of Traffic Congestion.

The reduction in the import duty of vehicles has been a major contributor to the massive increase in the number of hybrid cars on the Fiji Roads.

According to the former CEO LTA, Mr Carmine Piantedosi advised that the Land Transport Authority had registered 110,763 vehicles last year.
Statistics revealed that in 2001, 60071 vehicles were registered and the number steadily increased last year (2016) to 110,763.

The 2016 registration included:–  72 per cent for new and private vehicles;  16 per cent were for commercial vehicles; and  10 per cent for public service vehicles while two per cent was for Government, diplomatic and driving schools.
The total number of new registrations in 2016 was 15196 with 4969 new vehicle registrations and 10,227 second-hand registrations with growth rate approximately 10 per cent3 The audit noted that there was an increase of 43 per cent in the distribution of vehicles in Fiji annually from the year 2012 to 2018.
Some of the factors that may have affected the percentage change were attributed to:–  Low vehicle loan interest;  Low motor vehicle importation duty;  Taxation;  Decrease fuel prices;  Low car prices;  Reduction in duty for new parts and new engines for motor vehicles; and  Introduction of concessionary duty regimes for taxi and bus operations.

Tabulated below is the Annual Distribution of Vehicles in Fiji for the year 2012 and 2018.
Road Transport Distribution of Vehicles in Fiji Annually Private Vehicles Commercial Taxis Rentals/Hire Cars Government Vehicles 2012 54,919 16,646 6,071 2,096 1,313 2018 85,842 18,681 6,394 4,040 1,988 3 More than110k Vehicles Registered Last Year: LTA, Fiji Sun 23 September 2017 - https://fijisun.com.fj/2017/09/23/more-than-110k-vehicles-registered-last-year-lta/ 14 All other Vehicles (including omnibuses, diplomats) Total 2,610 83,655 3,015 119,690 The audit noted that the Scrapping Policy for vehicles is still in draft stages.
The Vehicle Scraping Policy is a strategy that is aimed at discarding aged or inoperative vehicles in the country.
The Department of Transport had described that one way the scrapping of vehicles can take place is through setting a vehicle quota and phasing out the vehicles with the registration A, B, C, D, E and F. The Land Transport Authority informed the Committee that before an age restriction can be introduced in Fiji, there is an absolute pre-requisite to have a mandated „end of life‟ arrangements introduced by the Ministry of Environment.
In not having this in place for the environmentally friendly mechanisms for the disposal and recycling of life expired vehicles will result in the Fijian countryside being turned into an informal scrapyards.

The Department of Transport advised that the Ministry has a draft scrapping policy and in order to have a coordinated approach, the policy will be consulted in conjunction with the Land Transport Act review.
The combined consultation on the Policy and the Act will ensure that de-registration of motor vehicles and the need to accredit agencies to process and export the scrap metal is adequately captured in the Policy and the Land Transport Act.

The Department will coordinate with the Department of Environment and all other relevant stakeholders on the implementation of Scrapping of motor vehicles in Fiji.
The Committee was advised that the Fiji Police Force is totally committed in addressing the issue of Traffic Congestion through regular consultation and coordination with relevant key stakeholders such as LTA and FRA.

In depth analysis shows that the regulators, road infrastructure, town and country planning to join and work collectively at ease the congestion issues.
Traffic congestion is a preceding issue and needs everyone‟s collective attention and input to address this issue as this will be future dilemma on all road users.

Human Capacity to Manage Traffic Congestion 1.7 Capacity constraints to managing traffic congestion The audit noted that the transport sector is capacity-limited on several fronts, both in the Government and private sector.
The most important capacity constraint is the limited number of educated, trained and experienced Fiji nationals available to take up posts at managerial level throughout the transport sector.

One of the major obstacles in regards to being able to sustain the current road management is the lack of suitable experienced Fiji national staff.
At the time of the audit was conducted, the organisational chart below shows the organisational structure and reporting relationships for the Ministry of Infrastructure, Transport, Disaster Management and Meteorological Services.

15 Source: Department of Transport No.

Stakeholders 1.

Department of Transport 2.


Fiji Roads Authority Role of the Agency in addressing Managing Traffic Congestion The Department indicated that as of now, after the reform of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, the Department is only to handle the policy and planning works.
The Maritime and Land Transport Policy outlines the role of the DoT through the following measures:–  The reconstitution of the NTCC, facilitated by DoT, with a lead role in inter- agency coordination and infrastructure planning  Strengthen the staff establishment of the DoT to reflect the original intention and scope of its activities, to include experience and qualifications in the multi-model transport planning, transport economics and policy – this is to be done through internal staff development supplemented by external training courses, staff exchanges and peer to peer working between the DoT together with FRA and LTA and recruit new staff where necessary.
The Authority has been given traffic management responsibility that relates to road signage, markings, traffic signals, other intersection and flow control devises including Road Network Planning.

Given the detailed networking planning role lies with the FRA, it should assume the responsibility for traffic counting programmes and traffic surveys, including statistical and enforcement weighing of heavy vehicle axles and should equip itself and train staff for the purpose.
There are approximately 6 per cent expatriates within FRA‟s workforce of 230 staff.

The senior national staffs are described as generally having good work skills.

Expatriate workers are still in the business and leadership roles and it seems likely that, even with good training programmes, it will require at least 16 No.

Stakeholders 3.
Stakeholders 3.

Land Transport Authority Role of the Agency in addressing Managing Traffic Congestion three year experience in these contracts before the senior staff in the national workforce will be properly equipped to move to these high level positions.

The LTA has the responsibility for administering driver, vehicle and operator licensing, vehicle road worthiness certification including vehicle testing and on- road compliance enforcement, motor vehicle dealerships and driving schools.

4.
4.

Fiji Police Force In accordance with the LTA Act 1998, the functions of the Authority includes the economic operation of road passenger and goods transport, the provision of public requirements, the development of traffic management strategies and enforcement strategies consistent with toad safety and road infrastructure protection.

Some of these responsibilities are potential overlaps or actual overlapping responsibilities with the other responsible agencies such as the FRA.
The audit highlights that the areas where the authority is able to be delegated from LTA to FRA should instead become FRA‟s powers within its legislation.

LTA has undertaken a new initiative called the „National Traffic Operation Centre‟ that promotes traffic flow and manages congestion.

The Police Road Traffic Unit is responsible for road traffic enforcement operations as required under the Police Act.
Road Traffic Operations include on-road enforcement of speed limits, testing for drug and alcohol impairments and attendance at the scene of road traffic crashes and recording of crash details.

The Traffic Data Unit based at Nabua Police Station receives Police Reports and undertakes data entry, analysis and reporting.

The traffic accident database is held on a system called Microcomputer Accident Analysis Package (MAAP) set up by the Transport Research Laboratory of the United Kingdom.
The data is made available to FRA and LTA for accident research, black spot identification and safety improvement treatments.

The audited noted there is a dedicated team comprised of officers from the Traffic Control Unit, Highway Patrol Unit and Motorcycle Unit who are engaged in conducting traffic control and traffic points duty on a daily basis and during weekdays on school days.
Traffic Management is a function of the Fiji Roads Authority as part of the operations on the ground whilst the same can be said for the Land Transport Authority as its covered within its primary legislation.

In view of this, there is no clear demarcation as to what aspects of traffic management separates the two entities.
The audit revealed that upon scrutinising the Southern Division Traffic Control Unit‟s nominal roll and duty roster for Totogo, Samabula, Nabua, Valelevu and Nasinu Police Stations, it was noted that the allocation of duties for the traffic offices were generalised.

There was no individual work plan (IWP) for each traffic officer since the IWP translates into the strategic objective of the Force which cascades into the specific activity that is provided within a given timeframe.
17 The Fiji Police Force had highlighted a number of critical challenges in their submission and these were:  Heavy volume of traffic coming onto the roads at a particular time with number of pedestrians crossing  Pedestrians Crossing on major road coming from side roads is unavoidable  School crossing major road  Large number of busses with limited bus stopping bays causing obstructions to one lane of traffic  Also consideration of high volume vehicles coming from the side roads (onto) the main road  Large number of vehicles passing by at (the) same time  (Transport) breakdowns in the middle of the road  Inconsiderate drivers (Driving too slowly)  Unforeseen circumstances, activities an incidents  Major bottleneck junctions with no option of diversion.
These key junctions are well identified by for Traffic Management but no (the) relevant stakeholders with continuous submission improvement.

These junctions are a major build-up of Traffic Congestion.

The Fiji Police Force has recommended that the FRA and LTA to revisit its Road Network Plan with the volume of vehicles and pedestrians with necessary restrictions during peak hours to assist in smooth flow of Traffic.
The Force had also advised that the Ministry of Transport to take (the leading) role in addressing the challenges and development (and) holistically to address traffic congestion with all relevant stakeholders.

18 2.
18 2.

ADDRESSING THE TRANSPORTATION DEMAND CAUSES OF CONGESTION Transportation Demand Management or TDM is a general term used for strategies that increase overall system efficiency by encouraging a shift from single occupant vehicle (SOV) to non-SOV modes, or shifting auto trips out of peak periods.

Transport Demand Management plays a crucial role in major cities through the world in reducing traffic congestions.
In Fiji, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport (MoIT) established the NTCF which brings private and public stakeholders in the transport sector together for a dialogue, consultation and discussions on freight and passenger transport services with the aim of improving efficiency, safety, security and reliability of transport infrastructure and freight and passenger transport operations.
This section of the report examines whether strategies for managing traffic congestion in the Suva – Nausori corridor adequately addresses the travel demand side factors based on the NTCF communiqué and the Department of Transport and relevant stakeholder‟s strategies.

Public Transport Service Improvement 2.1 Weakness in regulating and enforcement of buses of all ages.
The audit noted that there is lack of improvement on the frequent and reliable public transport service with the capacity of meeting the needs of different groups in the community including women, children, aged and disabled persons commuting during period periods.

In 2009, the Land Transport Authority contracted Orion Consulting Agencies BV, a registered consultancy firm from Netherlands, to undertake a review of the Fiji Bus Industry.
The consultant collaborated with the Land Transport Authority, Department of Transport, Fiji Bus Operators Association, the Consumer Council of Fiji and other organisations.

The Orion Consulting Agency BV while consulting with many stakeholders, observed bus operations in Viti Levu and Vanua Levu, undertook passenger survey, facilitated a workshop, and prepared two draft reports and considered information and comments from several sources4.
The findings of the report revealed that the proportion of the bus services feature includes busses are to be more frequent, more comfortable, safer, smoke free, better roads and hospital drivers.

Further to this, 32 per cent of the survey conducted opted for safe and affordable buses.

The table below shows the number of registered bus and private vehicles for 10 year period.
Private Busses Total Total includes number of registered taxis, rental and hire, goods vehicle, government vehicles, carriers and all other vehicle.
The Technical Working Group on road safety consultation and land transport recognised the Bus Schedule Plan as an action item discussed during the meeting.
LTA simplified that Bus Schedule Plan is equivalent to National Journey Plan that focused on area of monitoring operation of bus service.

The requirements of the said scheme will enable LTA to utilise technology to place all bus schedules into 4 Fiji Bus Industry Review Final Report, 2009 p 5 19 the National Journey Plan that will allow the travelling public to access schedule packages which provides mapping, dynamic pricing and checking fares.
The National Journey Plan is above the e-ticketing system and makes it possible to track every single bus journey against the schedule and produce daily variance reports.

This would reveal busses that are running early, buses that are late and buses that missing when LTA monitors the operation of the bus services.

The recent development of the bus industry in Fiji was the introduction of the e-transport system with the aim of modernising the bus industry.
The audit further highlighted that the Bus Schedule Plan or the National Journey Plan will benefit consumers, bus operators and the Land Transport Authority whereby the bus operators will benefit in terms of revenue as the general public will be able to plan their journey well.

It is anticipated that as a result, this will allow the shift of single occupant vehicle to access public transport.
LTA advised the Committee that the authority has done a lot of work in relation to the introduction of the National Journey Planner which is currently unfunded.

The benefits from this are immense for the Fijian travellers and it would enable the Authority to better regulate bus services by exploiting the technology used to achieve the National Journey Planner.
The Department of Transport advised that it is working closely with its Korean partners on Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS), and a pre-feasibility study on the ITS (whci includes the electronic road pricing) has been completed.
The intent of introducing ITS is to provide real time data, increase the efficiency of existing roads, reduce traffic congestion and provide detour route information, improve the convenience of traffic use, presents traffic accidents and improves traffic safety, allow efficient operation and management of the traffic system, enhances environmental conservation and energy reduction, and provides data that establishes and helps implements scientific traffic polices.
Electronic Road Pricing Initiatives 2.2 Lack of support to fund and implement Electronic Road Pricing initiatives for managing traffic congestion.

The Department of Transport had identified electronic road pricing initiatives for managing congestion under the 2017-18 Public Sector Investment Programme (PSIP).

The proposal for funding electronic road pricing feasibility study was prepared by the Department of Transport.
The main objective of the project is to request for experts to undertake a feasibility study and stakeholder consultation on the introduction of an Intelligent Transport System (ITS) through an Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) for land transport mode in order to control traffic congestion problems in the busy corridors.

The audit noted that this proposal still lacked the support in order to be implemented.
LTA informed the Committee that in the Financial Year ended 31 July 2019 collected a total sum of $13,920,619.90 in Road User Levy.

The funds collected by the Authority go straight into the Ministry of Economy.

There is no ring fencing of such funds for specific road maintenance or upgrade work.
The introduction of Road User Charging (RUC) through the mechanism of tolling or restricting access to specific areas for example by introducing a low emissions zone is a policy matter whiles lies wholly within the ambit of MoIT.

The Authority would certainly support such policy initiatives.

20 The audit highlighted that for the purposes of long term planning, having the Electronic Road Pricing gantries in place will asset in diverging traffic into express ways through user pay principle.
Short term plans will address the development of nationwide demand management strategy through active coordination of the DoT, LTA, FRA and other relevant stakeholders.

The Department of Transport advised that in relation to the Bus Schedule Plan and the National Journey Planner the first steps towards the delivery of this is the implementation of the Electronic Ticketing – tap-in-tap-out for busses and minibuses.
The e-ticketing programme will provide real time information of bus location that can be used to formulate the Bus Schedule Plan and the National Journey Plan.

Furthermore, LTA has begun consultation with the Ministry of Lands on a mapping package to geo-fence every transport mode in Fiji.
The Committee was further informed by the Department that the work of the Transport Demand Management Strategy has begun through the TWG meetings and the two phases of the Household Travel Survey (HTS) conducted in 2015 and 2018.

Also in 2015, a traffic survey on road congestion that conducted which involved the identification of travel vehicle occupancy.

The HTS is the largest and most comprehensive source of personal travel data ever collected in Fiji.
It provides a comprehensive picture on the travel behaviour and patterns of people surveyed in Fiji.

The rationale of the HTS is to provide a „snapshot‟ of how Fijians travel, the differences of travel pattern in the urban, rural and maritime areas.

This informed will support transport policy advise and strategic planning, and the Integrated Transport Master Plan.
Dedicated Bus Lanes 2.3 Lack of a comprehensive implementations strategy to fully leverage the transportation demand strategies identified in the 15 year Greater Suva Transport Strategy, in managing traffic congestion across the road networks.

Dedicated bus lanes or bus only lanes is a lane restricted to buses, often on certain days and times, and generally used to speed up public transport that would otherwise be held up by traffic congestion.
Bus lanes are a key component of a high quality Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) network, improving bus travel speeds and reliability by reducing delay caused by other traffic.

The audit noted that FRA developed the Greater Suva Transportation Strategy (GSTS ) 2015-2030, launched in 2014 which considers the considerable potential to influence transportation demand for road space by allocating priority lane for buses.
However, it is still at an early stage and lacks a comprehensive implementation strategy to fully leverage its potential to better manage congestion across the road network.

There were 7 key programmes identified in the GSTS 2015-2030.

These were dedicated bus lane, improved bus terminals, linked traffic signals, improved pedestrian safety, enforcement, intersection upgrades and planning.

Of the 7 key progammes, the dedicated bus lane is the first program identified in the strategy.
FRA had identified Kings Road and Grantham Road as a pilot phase for dedicated bus lanes.

The Kings Roads dedicated bus lanes project was identified as one of the proposed short terms action (2015-2019) by the Greater Suva Transport Strategy Action Plan.

The details of the proposed short and medium term action plans are tabulated below:– Option No.
Project Action Ownership 21 2015 High Priority Project Kings Road B12.1 dedicated bus lanes Conduct feasibility into bus lanes along Kings Road from Nausori to Samabula.

Design and construction to follow.

FRA/LTA Proposed Medium Term Actions (2020-2024) Project B12.2, B12.3 Dedicated Lanes Bus Plan, design and construct dedicated bus lanes along Grantham Road.
Investigate options for further locations, including Fletcher Rd, Rewa Street, Laucala Bay Rd, Ratu Dovi Rd, Bau Street, Queens Rd, Princess Rd and Victoria Parade FRA/LTA The audit noted that FRA is already working with LTA and will collaborate with the Department of Transport Planning Unit to develop a coherent strategy for the roll out of the dedicated bus lane initiative and will include all key stakeholders in the process.
LTA advised that any bus lane introduction in Fiji will require funding which is not currently available however, the Authority supports such initiative.

Carpooling 2.4 Lack of a comprehensive strategy for implementing carpooling initiatives in managing traffic congestion across the road networks.

The audit revealed that the LTA had initiated the planning stage through conducting carpooling survey.
However, this initiative lacked a comprehensive implementation strategy to fully leverage its potential to better manage congestion across the road network.

Carpooling (also car-sharing, ride-sharing and lift-sharing) is the sharing of car journeys so that more than one person travels in a car, and prevents the need for others to have a drive to a location themselves.

By having more people using one vehicle, carpooling reduces each person‟s travel costs such as fuel costs, tolls and the stress of driving.
In 2016, the LTA conducted an independent study on the carpooling project.

The objective of the study was to determine the number of private vehicles that are currently travelling during the peak hours are travelling with no passengers, 1 passenger, 2-3 passengers and full load.

The survey revealed that 75 per cent of the vehicles commuting during the critical time are private vehicles.

This is closely followed by taxi and buses with 17 per cent and 8 per cent respectively.
The average count for private vehicles noted that more than 75 per cent commutes during the critical time (i.e.

between 6.30 a.m. and 8.00 a.m.) mainly one driver only or one passenger.

The distribution of private vehicle occupancy during critical time is illustrated below based on the OAG analysis on the LTA Carpooling Report.
OCCUPANCY 20% 41% Cars with only the driver Cars with 1 passenger Cars with 2-3 passengers 22 In 2006, the city of Alameda California adopted Travel Choice Program to reduce driving and congestion while promoting healthy physical activity.
Travel Choice used targeted outreach tactics to connect interested residents with information and incentives to add more walking, bicycle riding, public transit and carpooling into their daily routines.5 The result indicated that drive-alone trips were reduced by 14 per cent primarily due to a 34 per cent increase in transit usage and a 5 per cent increase in carpooling.
The lack of a comprehensive strategy on carpooling option is due to the fact that the transport sector agencies such as DoT, LTA, FRA, Fiji Police Force and other stakeholders have their own lines of reporting and mandate and there is an absence of active coordination to address the demand cause of congestion.

At the time of when this audit was carried out, it was revealed that carpooling was a suggestion originally considered by LTA.
However, the Committee was informed that this initiative is unlikely to successful in Fiji due to cultural reasons and will require a sophisticated app to manage it.

Additionally, this has also no funding.

DoT revealed that the provision for carpooling is stipulated under Section 61 of the Land Transport Act.

The enforcement of the carpooling provision has been implemented as this has linked with the concept of the Public Service Vehicle (PSV).
This section specifies that the Authority has to issue a license for carpooling and so the principal economic activity of the carpooling permit holder is not the receipt of fare but has to be some other form of income other than permanent employment.

An alternative proposed by LTA to carpooling is to encourage commuters to opt for the park and ride scheme.
This is a system for reducing urban traffic congestion, in which drivers leave their cars in parking lots on the outskirts of a city and travel to the city centre on scheduled public buses, carpooling or vanpooling.

The park and ride scheme require effective and efficient monitoring strategy such as accessible sites, security including CCTV and reliability of the bus services to travel on scheduled times.
The scheme also provides an opportunity to Private Public Partnership (PPP) where the developer provides a secured space for free but charges a slight higher bus fare going into the city centre.

On the other hand, FRA advises that the carpooling initiative is another great idea that can assist in the congestion reduction however, like bus lanes, there needs to be complete solution implemented including the enforcement by LTA and this should be coordinated by the Department of Transport.
The Committee was informed by the Department of Transport that Carpooling has been part of the discussions with other transport stakeholders during consultation in the Land Transport TWG meeting.

However, Fiji‟s carpooling initiative has met strong objection from the Fiji Bus Operators as they are of the view that exchange of a fare for a service in a private vehicle is creating an illegal activity.
Carpooling is only effective when those travelling together each own a vehicle and provides a free service on a rotational basis over a period of time.

It is discovered that most passengers involved in carpooling do not own vehicles.

The Ministry and LTA will continue to look into how best carpooling can be implemented.
5 7 Best Practices in Transport Demand Management, January 2008, p 7C-3 23 In relation to the „Park and Ride Concept‟, the Ministry in coordination with LTA and FRA is working on a best practice Park and Ride Guide to assist with the implementation of the Park and Ride Concept.

This will also be included as part of the Integrated Transport Master Plan.
Cycling & Pedestrian 2.5 Lack of a comprehensive strategy for implementing identified active low cost and environmentally friendly forms of transport such as cycling and walking The audit noted that the transport stakeholders and in particular the land transport sector has identified some active low cost and environmentally friendly forms of transport such as cycling and walking.
However, these initiatives lacks a comprehensive strategy to fully realise its impact in reducing people‟s dependency on cars and thus directly having an impact in managing congestion.

The Transport Policy encourages the use of more energy-efficient transport modes such as public transport and an active mode of cycling and walking.

The World Health Organisation launched the Global Status Report on Road Safety 2018 highlighted that the number of annual road traffic deaths has reached 1.35 million.
Road traffic injuries are now the leading killer of people aged 5-29 years.6 Source: 2016, Fiji Police Force, Road Traffic Accidents Annual Report Source: Land Transport Authority, “Factsheet 4: Ratios – Populatoin & Vehicle Registration Ratios over 10 year Period” Fiji has the Bicycle Act that focuses on the registration, licensing and usage of bicycles.

However, not much is being done to promote bicycles as a form of transportation.
The Household Travel Survey Report revealed that the mode of transportation used depends on the distance of the trip.

The mode of travel in urban areas highlighted that walking accounts for the second most popular form of trips with 30 per cent.

This provides evidence to support the promotion of safe infrastructure development for walking and strengthened policy development concerning pedestrians through active coordination of multi-agency approach.
FRA had highlighted at the time of the audit that the first dedicated bicycle lanes in Fiji will be constructed within the S3 Project as well as long Ratu Sukuna Road, Queen Elizabeth Drive and Laucala Bay Road.

This will depend on the success of this programme, and further bicycle lanes are 6 World Health Organization, Global Status Report on Road Safety 2018 - https://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/road_safety_status/2018/en/ 24 planned where spaces in the road reserves allows.
Location will be determined following consultations with the LTA, Fiji Police Force and other key stakeholders.

According to Police data, the underlying causes of accidents are speeding and other unsafe driving behaviour.
FRA believes that the best way to improve pedestrian safety is for a coordinated campaign to inform drivers on the dangers of unsafe driving, include more resources for the Police and LTA to enforce speed restrictions and for FRA to continue with engineered safety improvements and black spot treatments.

The audit revealed that the Department of Transport in the past, the Bicycle Act cannot effectively be enforced due to the non-implementation of bicycle lane by FRA.
However, the DoT further commented that the FRA is currently looking into the implementation of the bicycle lane through identifying the efficiency of footpaths.

In 2018-19, the Department of Transport‟s stand has change to that of the Transport Policy that was formulated in 2014 and the need to review and revamp the Bicycle Act is paramount due to the planned implementation of the bicycle lane.

The audit acknowledges that FRA has undertaken a nationwide expansion of the footpath network.
This has resulted in the construction of over 50km of footpath constructed with a further 49.9km planned for 2019-20 financial year.

In addition, FRA has also undertaken a nationwide expansion of the street light network to provide safer environment for night time pedestrians.

The Committee was informed that the cycling and walking forms of transport is a matter for the Fiji Roads Authority.

The Land Transport Authority supports dedicated cycle lanes and pedestrian only areas in towns and city centres.
Funding will be required to implement these initiatives.

One of the Force‟s key performance indicators is to reduce the road fatality by 30 per cent.

The table below shows the summary of road fatalities between Aug 2015 - Jul 2016 and Aug 2016 - Jul 2017 period: Aug 2015 – Jul 2016 16 32 7 10 65 No.

KPIS 1.

Southern 2.

Western 3.

Eastern 4.

Northern 5.


Total There was a 5 per cent decrease in road fatalities during the period under review as there were 62 fatalities compared to 65 for the same period the previous year.

The main causes of accident were speeding and inconsiderate pedestrians.

The victims were mostly passengers, followed by pedestrians, drivers, cyclist and motorbike riders7.
Aug 2016 – Jul 2017 13 36 7 6 62 % Change -19% 13% 0% -40% -5% Leveraging opportunities for transportation demand management 2.6 Limited evidence of active follow-up identified opportunities presented in the traffic congestion solution discussion paper The audit noted that the discussion paper on Traffic Congestion Solution (pp 1-5) has not yet been used to inform the further development of any related actions to address traffic congestion.
There is little evidence of active follow-up on the opportunities identified.

7 Fiji Police Force Annual Report August 2016 – July 2017 (PP No.

117 of 2017) p. 16 - http://www.parliament.gov.fj/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/15Fiji-Police-Force-August- 2016-July-2017-Report.pdf 25 The DoT had developed a solution paper in 2015 on Traffic Congestion.

The purpose of the paper was to provide solution to the current traffic congestion between Suva and Nausori corridor.
The paper identified the focus areas for major congestion and bottle necks hindering the smooth flow of traffic.

The Department of Transport had identified a list of immediate and medium action strategies to address traffic congestion and are tabulated as follows: No.

Immediate Action Strategies 1.


Meeting: Police/LTA/MoIT/FRA – Operation Order Formulation Commencement Date 29/05/2015 Medium Term Action Long Term Action Timing of Traffic Lights of FRA – to ensure connection SCATS immediately for better control of lights.

Introduce Intelligent Transport Systems – Electronic Road Pricing 2.

3.

Visit Suva City Council and Nasinu Town Council to raise awareness on the operation order Awareness in the media this weekend to advice on the combined and operations.
Advise for the general public to change travel times and patterns.

Articulated, Combination, Hazardous vehicles, logging and delivery trucks to avoid travelling during peak hours.

No driving lessons or driving test during peak hours.

29/05/2015 Rescheduling of working time from Samabula to Nausori Increasing Tax for 2nd Car Ownership 30/05/2015 Multiskilling of Police Offices in all departments to also undertake Traffic Police Roles Increase Road Use Levy 4.
Municipal Councils to attend control of traffic and traffic directions within the Town and City boundaries specifically Nasinu and Suva City 01/06/2015 Infrastructure Management by FRA especially in current intersections and roundabouts.

Setting up of Traffic Management Control Centres in LTA and Police and also introduction of CCTV Cameras on the road 5.
Road Marshalls to replace Police at 6. the School Crossings Police to attend to Traffic Directions and place major controls in main and outer intersection and roundabouts – this will include more priority lanes during peak hours in the morning and afternoon 7.

LTA to compliment in other areas 01/06/2015 where police presence is limited or lacking 8.

Removal of Busses and breakdown vehicles unattended will be removed from the road by LTA and Police.

9.
To promote carpooling as stated in the law To promote the use of alternative vehicles such as motorcycles and bicycles To promote the use of public transport – especially busses and minibuses To encourage the change travel behaviour and travel patterns through awareness and incentives Introduction of Red Light Cameras The above actions plans recommended that the daily updates in the first week of joint-operation to be submitted to the Ministry and review of action and strategies to be done on a weekly basis.
The audit however mentioned that LTA and FRA were not aware of the strategies highlighted in the Traffic Congestion Paper.

This indicates poor coordination between the DoT and the relevant transport authorities in implementing the action plans on the Traffic Congestion Solution Paper (TCSP).

26 The Committee was advised that even though this is the responsibility of MoIT, the LTA view is that rural communities would significantly benefit from the introduction of demand responsive transport.
Effectively the Licensed Carriers already perform a service and with enhanced application of a nationwide scheme established on a formalised basis it would be far more effective.

The Committee was advised by the Department of Transport that the Traffic Congestion Paper was developed in 2015 for a series of enforcement operations undertaken between the LTA and the Fiji Police Force.
The paper was used as a guide in the immediate operations to address traffic congestions and further guide actions in addressing Traffic Congestion.

The Strategies are being continuously implemented in coordination with relevant transport sector stakeholders.

The mind-set change of road users is critical to address traffic congestion.

This requires extensive awareness.


Furthermore, the Ministry through the TWG will in the 2020-2021 Financial Year work on a comprehensive strategy to address traffic congestion as well as the overall Integrated Transport Master Plan.

The Ministry has available a number of policies and other reports like the Household Travel Survey that will enable better strategizing and planning.
Implications for future investments decisions 2.7 Approach to traffic congestion management remain dominated by expensive supply-side initiatives due to absence of coordinated demand management strategies The absence of coordinated transportation demand management strategies demonstrates that the nation‟s main approach to congestion remains dominated by expensive supply-side initiatives, focused on expensive road and public transport capacity.
It is anticipated that the National Transport Coordinating Committee will be to foster inter-modal transport coordination and dialog, to identify and discuss emerging issues in transport infrastructure and service provision, to review the development of policy and planning in the sector and monitor progress in the implementation of the Policy Action Plan and 20 year Transport Infrastructure Investment Plan.
Active coordination between the DoT, LTA, FRA, Fiji Police Force and other relevant stakeholders will influence development of future investment decisions on management of demand causes of congestion.

The Committee was advised that the Department of Transport provides a coordinating role over other Transport agencies.

The establishment of the TWG in Land and Maritime was to allow for coordination amongst transport agencies at the technical level.
The TWG consists of both public sector officials and private sector representatives who deliberate on transport-related issues.

The institutionalisation of the NTCC as the implementation arm of the Integrated Transport Master Plan will lead to updated policy direction and regular update to the Cabinet on strategies for traffic management.
Duty of Traffic Police Officer on Public Road 2.8 Absence of identified strategies or initiatives in the Fiji Police Force’s Annual Corporate Outputs and the lack of specified times for Police Officers when starting and concluding the daily routine tasks assigned to them.

The traffic duty roster for Traffic Police at major Police Stations in the southern division are allocated according to the teams that compose more than two resource police personnel committed to morning, 27 afternoon and night shift.
However, the traffic duty roster for Traffic Police Stations does not specify the time for police officers when staring and concluding the daily routine tasks assigned to them.

The National Transport Consultative Forum presentation highlighted that there is a positive correlation of data gathered through e-ticketing system with the timing for traffic police when managing traffic on public roads.
The e-ticketing system records all bus transactions electronically and it produces various data to assist in the transport sector planning and policy.

The e-ticketing system captures data on hour by hour travel patterns of the travelling public and has noted that most transactions are at peak at 7.30 a.m. and 3.30 p.m.
Moreover, the duty of the Traffic Police Officer in accordance with Section 23 (1) of the Police Act 1965 is to:– (a) To regulate and control traffic (b) To divert all or any particular kind of traffic, when it is in the public interest to do so.
The audit highlights that the lack of institutional ability to coordinate and mutually formulate programs to mitigate traffic congestion, with emphasis on targeted output and outcomes is a factor that causes a lot of difficulty in trying to manage traffic congestion through a coordinated and systemic manner.

The monitoring, evaluation and reporting of daily feedbacks is essential to increase effectiveness.
The introduction of the electronic bus ticketing in 2019 has enabled the production of data on the travel of the travelling public in a day.

From the bus e-ticketing data presented by Vodafone in the 2018 NTCF, it was revealed that the transactions peaked at 7.00 a.m. and 3.30 p.m. whereas transactions were stable between 9.00 a.m. and 1.00 p.m.

The average passenger loading dropped between 25 – 50 people compared to 60 people during peak periods.
The effectiveness and efficiency of the organisation largely depend on the ability to coordinate and mutually formulate programs related to traffic management congestion with emphasis on targeted outputs and outcomes.

LTA advised that the authority can say that no e-Transport data is analysed by any agency other than the LTA who limit this information and analysis to establish trends in violations.
With regards to the study on the travel patterns from Vodafone (e-ticketing) to help harness the Fiji Police Force Traffic Congestion Strategy, the DoT advised that the information from Vodafone on the e-ticketing project is not readily available however the Ministry will write to Vodafone seeking the release of information only suitable for transport and policy planning.
The Committee was advised that there are now a total of 341 Officers in the Traffic Unit for the Fiji Police Force and a total of 130 Motorcycles are distributed throughout the Nation (to all) Traffic Units in order to address the issue of Traffic Congestion with the resources still being increased on all critical aspects of Traffic.
Officers from all Police Stations and Police Post are deployed during peak hours to control the Traffic Congestion at all critical check points in their respective area of operations.

The designated Managers and Supervisors are directed to monitor the Traffic Congestion Coverage and Traffic Control Duties.

The Traffic Congestion is caused by sudden influx of vehicles which comes onto the road at a particular moment including the mass movement of pedestrians and school children along crossing areas.
28 COMPol’s Mandatory Directive – clearly spells that all officers are to assist in times of Traffic Congestion Structure The Fiji Police Traffic Control Unit has presented its new Traffic Structure after its analysis, which is currently under implementation through the approval of Government from 3,000 Police Officers to 7,000 Officers.
However, the Unit currently operates with the maximum use of its current allocation of manpower with the other units for smart deployment of personnel‟s (at) critical junctions and locations to ensure smooth flow of traffic.

Deployment Capabilities with Strength/Equipment  341 Officers from all 4 Policing Divisions  163 Motorcycles with qualified riders  30 Traffic Fleets Review of the on-street car parking 2.9 Lack of comprehensive strategy to fully implement on-street car parking restrictions.
The review of the on-street car restriction is one of the strategies that were determined in the Greater Suva Transportation Strategy 2015 – 2030.

This strategy is to address the key issue of enforcement and regulation and ultimate goal of the strategy is to reduce traffic congestion during peak hours.
However, the audit noted that this strategy is still at an early stage and lacks a comprehensive implementation strategy to fully influence its potential to reduce illegal stopping, picking up, dropping off and parking which directly impact congestion management.

The improved enforcement of road rules to regulate traffic flows would be of significant benefit to the safety of pedestrians and would encourage active modes of transport.
The FRA is responsible for gazetting powers such as the implementation of urban clearways.

In addition, parking restrictions, road signage is the responsibility of the authority.

The regulation and enforcement of traffic in terms of monitoring the implementation of urban clearways is a multi-agency approach in which the DoT, FRA, LTA, FPF and local authorities coordinate to achieve the successful implementation of the urban clearways.

29 3.
29 3.

MONITORING, EVALUATION AND REPORTING STRATEGIES This chapter discusses the governing institutional framework in place and the monitoring, evaluation and reporting functions.
The implementing agencies in the Land Transport Sector such as the Fiji Police Force and the self- governing statutory authorities such as FRA and LTA are responsible for monitoring their own traffic management at the operational level at annual intervals and report directly to the Honourable Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Disaster Management and Meteorological Services as provided for in the legislation.
Monitoring congestion management initiatives 3.1 Strategic level monitoring is not perpetuated on the ground.

Instead monitoring is done in isolation by implementing lead agencies.

The audit noted that the governing policies of the land transport sector affirm that monitoring of the sector should be done at a strategic level however; this is no perpetuated on the ground.
Instead, the monitoring is done silos by the implementing agencies in the land transport sector with respect to establishing the degree of achievement of planned targets in their respective organisational plans.

The audit makes reference to Section 5.1.5 of the Maritime and Land Transport Policy that the network planning responsibility of the Department of Transport are at a strategic level concerned with, amongst other things, the monitoring of the sector operations and development.
Legislations governing the Transport Sector: Agency Roads Fiji Authority Legislative Mandate Fiji Roads Authority Act 2012 Land Transport Authority Land Transport Act 1998 OAG Comments Section: 29: (1) The Authority shall furnish to the Minister a report on its activities for the first half of each financial year.

(2) The half yearly report shall include the information required by the Authority’s statement of corporate intent to the given in the report.
7: The PS of Infrastructure and Transport is a member of the Board for Ministry Committee Findings Section: Section 29 of the Act has been repealed [Act No.
6 of 2019 & schedule 2, effective 19 July 2019] Section 9: Powers of Authority:– (1) The Authority may, subject to this Act and to any directions given to it by the Minister under section 10 – (a) regulate and control all or any means of land transport; (b) take such steps and to do all such acts, matters, and things as it may think necessary or desirable for effecting the coordination of road transport services, and the improvement of the means of, and facilities for, road transport; (c) appoint in writing authorised officers for all or particular purposes of this Act; (d) Do all things necessary or convenient to be done for or in connection with, or incidental to, the exercise of its powers or the performance of its functions under this Act or any other Act.
(2) An authorised officer appointed under this section must, when performing functions under this Act, carry and if requested produce a written authorisation from the Authority.

The National Transport Coordinating Committee (NTCC) has been established as a mechanism for engendering coordination across the transport sector, encapsulating monitoring performance and 30 progress of lead agencies in the transport sector.

However, the audit revealed that the NTCC has been in abeyance for some time.
The Maritime and Land Transport Policy captures the need for dialogue between the public and private sector in order to promote a mutual understanding of the issues, demands, constraints in the transport sector that act on the Government agencies on the one hand and private businesses on the other.

Section 5.4 of the policy states that the NTCF is the main forum for the transport industry dialogue for freight and passenger transport services.
The forum convenes once a year to discuss transport related matter s with other Government and industry delegates.

From 2014, the Forum has been conducted every 2 years and the last one was held in October 2018.

NTCF Communiqué No.
NTCF Communiqué No.

9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th Date(s) of the Forum 22 – 23 November 2010 31 Oct – 2 November 2011 2012 (Exact dates not provided to audit) 6 November 2013 13 November 2014 27 – 28 October 2016 18 – 19 October 2018 The audit highlighted that the submission of reports will ensure adequate evaluations are carried out on the progress of implementation and enable informed decision-making in addressing the gaps in implementation.
The DoT advised that the NTCF was established through a Cabinet Paper Policy therefore legislative mandate does not work because their functions are not operational in nature.

The DoT further advised that the NTCF was a 2 year meeting and the 16th Forum was scheduled in 2019.

However, there was no budget provided for this hence the Department will have to rely on the TWG Meetings every month.
The Committee was informed that the Department of Transport continues to improve its monitoring systems to ensure the effective and efficient performance of the Land Transport Sector.

The Ministry‟s key outcomes highlighted in the National Development Plan, Ministries Strategic Development Plan, Cost Operational Plan and the budget will assist in mapping out the Department‟s monitoring systems.

The Ministry will develop a monitoring tool to ensure the effective performance of the sector.
Stakeholder consultations and coordination will need to be further strengthened from the existing TWG set up.

The Ministry will continue to focus on monitoring its agency activities particularly conducting monthly reviews of its KPIs and activities in accordance to budgetary provisions.

Furthermore, Government through the Ministry provides a quarterly grant to the LTA.

Upon signing a service level agreement, the Authority is obliged to provide reports as contained in the Land Transport Act 1998.
Prior to the replenishment of quarterly grants, a reconciliation process is undertaken to ensure that all monies spent for operation and capital expenditure are within the government‟s procurement process and financial manual.

The LTA Board also has its own briefing sessions with the Hon.

Minister and the Permanent Secretary to discuss issues of national interest.

In spite of this there is still room for improvement to ensure that the land transport sector is well managed.
31 The Fiji National Transport Sector Plan 1993 has been replaced by the Land and Maritime Transport Policies 2014.

As stated above the review of the strategies will be on an annual basis.

This will include a monitoring report on the implementation of the policies and strategies.

The review is relevant given the need to include the impacts of climate change issues, greenhouse gas emissions and most recently the effects of COVID-19.
As a result of the review, the Ministry also intends to formulate and Integrated Transport Master Plan.

The Master Plan will map out policies and strategies and provide a monitoring and evaluation mechanism and a comprehensive implementation plan, inclusive timelines and agencies responsible.

The review is expected to be completed in December 2020.
With regards to the 20-year Transport Infrastructure Investment Plan, the Committee notes that this plan is different from the Fiji National Transport Sector Plan (FNTSP).

The FNTSP was a 20-year transport sector policy, which expired in 2013.

Whilst the investment plan is related to infrastructure development and possible partnership between investors and FRA.
The Ministry was involved in the establishment of the Infrastructure Investment Plan, however, the coordinating roles and responsibility lies with FRA.

The infrastructure investment plan was more targeted on potential infrastructure investments.

In 2014, the FNTSP was replaced by the Land and Maritime Transport Policies, which was work done by the Ministry in consultation with ADB Technical Assistance.
The policies are to guide transport sector planning and management and is to be reviewed at least every 5 years.

The Committee was further informed by the Traffic congestion is closely related to socio-economic growth.

The Fijian economy has continued to grow for the past decade.

This has led to an increased in economic activities and increase in disposable income of Fijians.

Every country in the world, whether developing and developed details with congestion.
The review of the FNTSP and developed of the Land Transport Policy, which provides the policies to support and overarching national policies and strategies and provides: (i) Overall transport sector policy direction; (ii) Policy on cross-cutting issues including gender, climate change adaptation and mitigation, and good governance; (iii) Policy on institutional roles and development including roles and functions of government transport agencies, delegation and outsourcing of functions and public-private sector coordination and (iv) Technical policy direction for the land transport sub-sectors.
The above Policy is under review as per the review cycle.

The merger of Department of Transport with the Commerce, Trade and Tourism will enable a holistic review of the Policy, in terms of industry development, trade growth and tourism needs.

The TWG, which is a grouping of all transport sector stakeholders has been a workable solution to operationalise the resolutions of the communique.

The TWG has been meeting and implementing strategies identified in the Land Transport Policy.
As the Policy, which is guiding document is up for review; the TWG will need policy guidance from the NTCC.

Hence, the NTCC will be activated in the 2020-2021 financial year to help and guide the Ministry and TWG in the review process.

In terms of the impact of the NTCF deliverables through the Department of Transport, the Forum has not ceased, however, it was a policy decision in 2018, to have the Forum every 2 years.

Due to the 32 COVID-19 pandemic this year, the Forum was not held.
As the Ministry is working on the review of Land and Maritime Transport Policies in the 2020-2021 Financial Year, the Forum can be called to obtain feedback and views of the wider group of the stakeholders in the transport sector.

Transport Technical Working Groups and the National Transport Consultative Forum The Committee was informed that the NTCF is dependent on the TWG to operationalise the outcomes and deliverables of the NTCF.
The TWG is clustered into small groups of professional representing the industry and the public sector who have a common objective.

The turnaround time of resolving issues in the TWG is much faster and more satisfying to those affected.
Bureaucracy challenges are overcome through networking and roundtable ‘talanoa session’ TWG members openly participate and are appreciative when they are able to achieve satisfactory results that is beneficial to the industry and national objectives which are closely linked to the SDP and NDP.
As Chair of the Transport Technical Working Group, the Committee was advised that the Ministry is confident of resolving most of the Country‟s transport issues through the participation of selected important professional who are influential in the transport sector.

The TWG ensures that the issues are dealt with and closed off whilst new transport issues are introduced.

These issues of course align to the national issues as stated in the NTCF communiques.
TWGs Monitoring, Coordinating and Planning It was noted that the TWG has been a very effective tool to monitor the work at the strategic level, it takes into consideration and industry perspective.

In terms of resolving issues, the private stakeholders have first-hand access to information from representatives of the Ministry, LTA, FRA, Fiji Police Force and other transport stakeholders who are members of the TWGs.
The TWG does not replace the NTCF, as the TWG is not a consultative process but in an action oriented group.

Purpose of the TWG is to provide an enabling framework for an efficient and affordable transportation system.

The key focus is to provide appropriate policy advises and regulatory framework to create and investor friendly environment and satisfy the travelling needs of the community.

This is to facilitate, promote and support trade and tourism, through transportation of goods and people.
The cost operational plan adequately captures the work of the Transport TWG.

About the Transport TWG TWG is established through invitation to relevant stakeholders.

It comprise of agencies who have a national impact on the land transport sector with regards to safety systems, research, management and technology, in collaboration with the community.

For particular instances, additional stakeholders whose expertise may be required could also be in attendance upon invitation.
Representatives from the following sectors may be encouraged to participate in the TWG but not limited to:– Identified transport stakeholders; Insurance companies;    Suppliers, manufacturers and equipment;  Government agencies;  Fiji Revenue & Customs Services; and 33  Fiji Consumer and Competitors Commission Representation of the TWG is reviewed annually or when required to ensure it continue to meet the agenda.

Member may resign from the TWG at any time by providing notice in writing to the Chair.
Effective Coordination between Relevant Transport Agencies (FRA, LTA and Department of Town and Country Planning) The Committee was informed that currently, there is no coordination between the mentioned agencies and will continue to coordinate to ensure efficiency in the land transport sector.

These agencies are part of the TWG and will continue to be part of the NTCC once the Ministry finalise its review.
The Department will initiative in the 2020-2021 financial year the Integrated Master Plan (ITMP) which will include the Land and Maritime Transport Policies and review of the respective Acts.

This will be an inclusive plan which will include a detailed implementation matrix.

Governance Arrangements for monitoring and reporting 3.2 Absence of systematic reporting by agencies on the impact of nationwide congestion management initiatives.
The audit highlighted that the DoT has established sound portfolio-wide governance structure to support integrated decision-making.

However, the absence of systematic reporting to agencies on the impact of nationwide congestion management initiates impedes effective oversight and coordination.

Governance relates to how the organisation is managed, directed and held accountable for achieving strategic and operational objectives.
Effective governance is a prerequisite of any successful organisation but there is no definite model that will fit all circumstances.

The audit mentions that the absence of a state-wide transportation demand management monitoring and reporting system is due to the fact that congestion is not being recognised as a stand-alone goal.

The DoT has not elevated the goal of congestion reduction to priority level despite the degraded traffic conditions in the Suva-Nausori corridor.
This stems from the multi-transport mode that is under the portfolio of the Department of Transport.

Lack of a stand-alone goal for congestion reduction consequently leads to the absence of a nationwide congestion management plan.

Moreover, the Department generally overseas both the maritime and land transport spheres however more emphasis is placed on maritime transport issues.

Towards mid-2019, the MoIT had produced a ToR for a Traffic Congestion Mitigating Committee.
A review of the ToR noted that the Committee would be chaired by the PS for Infrastructure & Transport or his representative and would comprise of the following:– 1.

Commissioner of the Fiji Police Force; 2.

CEO Fiji Roads Authority; 3.

CEO Land Transport Authority; 4.

Director Town & Country Planning; and 5.

Director Local Government.


In addition, the ToR captured the objectives of the Committee which included the following:  To promote efficiency by identifying solutions that can be implemented to mitigate traffic congestion and improve peak period travel time and traffic flows; Increase mobility by minimising their impact and effects of traffic congestion; and  34  Improving safety through implementing identified solutions relevant for Fiji’s Traffic conditions.
FRA advises that traffic congestion is a serious problem to be addressed and that is negatively impacts Fiji‟s economy.

Despite the lack of coordinated direction from DoT, the FRA together with LTA and the Fiji Police Force is in the process of rolling out clearways across Suva to ensure the maximum road reserve is available for traffic flow during peak hours.

In addition, FRA is looking towards implementing one-way systems and other traffic improvement measures.
The audit highlighted that the Department of Transport‟s main priority is infrastructure in terms of renewing and building new infrastructure.

The idea is that strengthening the infrastructure will eventually tackle the road issues, congestion management being one of them.
The audit further enquired whether there was any way of making congestion management a primary goal, keeping intact the environment, infrastructure and road safety, since it is evident that everyone is facing the problem, it was noted that one of the reasons that stakeholders do not place much importance on the issue of traffic congestion is because it is not set a primary goal.

Some of the actions undertaken by the Department of Transport in addressing Traffic Congestion are:– 1.
The Department is considering the Household Travel Survey (HTS) Reports which is a project that tries to address the demand side management issue, inter alia; 2.

Another project that is currently in progress is the Sustainable Urban Transport Index Project that deals with sustainability issues in the transport sector; 3.

The Department is currently working on a study of electric vehicles project that was based on the HTS which looks at electric vehicles as an alternative means of transport.
The LTA advises that the Transport Technical Working Group tends to be a bit „patchy‟ as it is not focused solely on mitigating congestion whereas the Traffic Congestion Mitigating Committee was formed with the intention of being a coordinating body but the only problem is that the Committee has never met.

The authority agrees that there is weak monitoring and poor coordination however with the introduction of such a Committee; there would be series of SOPs that would be agreed to by all the agencies.
In other words, there would be a plan and monitoring would certainly be improved.

Study of the Sustainable Urban Transport Index Project and the Electric Vehicle Project The Committee was informed that the above study is the initiative undertaken by the Department of Transport, a proactive approach to introduce best practices around the world.

The SUTI is also the first in the pacific.


The SUTI is based on ten indicators represented as follows: – the transport system, social, economic, environmental dimensions of sustainable urban transport.

SUTI describes key aspects of sustainable urban transport for cities and help summarise, track and compare performance of these cities with regards to sustainable urban transport systems and services.
The Committee was informed that the Sustainable Urban Transport Index (SUTI) has been completed and cabinet submission is being prepared.

The Household Travel Survey (HTS) and the study of Electric Vehicle (EV) are two separate projects.

HTS is the largest and most comprehensive source of personal travel data ever collected in Fiji, provide a comprehensive picture of trip making on travel patterns of people living in Fiji.
The rationale of the HTS is to provide a „snapshot‟ of how Fijians travel, the differences of travel between the urban, rural 35 and maritime and the support for transport policy advise and strategic transport planning.

This project is now completed and provides the Ministry with baseline data in regards to determining travel behaviour patterns of the people of Fiji.

From this information, further strategies will be developed to ease the Traffic congestion.
The study of Electric Vehicles is really the first in the Pacific to gauge whether Fiji is ready for the introduction of electric vehicles.

The Committee was further advised that all above studies are completed and will be presented to Cabinet.
Monitoring Congestion Patterns 3.3 Lack of data to enable a full assessment of the holistic pattern of congestion The audit noted that the Transport Technical Working Group on Land Transport revealed that traffic peak hours are from 7.00 a.m. to 8.30 a.m. and 4.30 p.m. to 6.00 p.m. through traffic observations.

The FRA is better equipped to undertake a road network planning at a more focused area level, including such matters as urban transport and traffic studies and traffic demand forecasting.
Given the detailed network planning role that lies with the FRA, it should assume the responsibility for, amongst others, regular traffic counting programmes and traffic surveys, and should equip itself and traffic staff for this purpose.

This is in line with FRA‟s plan to commence with nationwide traffic counting programme in 2015 and the similar role undertaken by the old Department of National Roads.
The Greater Suva Transportation Strategy reports that land use projections indicate that the greater Suva area could grow from a population of 280,000 to around 350,000 by 2030.

The graph below depicts the Major Town Populations based on the FBoS as at July 2018.

The Committee was informed that the Department of Transport will continue to work towards phase 3 of the HTS and continue with SUTI, Electronic Road Pricing and e-vehicle feasibility study.
Meanwhile, FRA will continue with Traffic Count on Fiji roads which will support the HTS findings.

The survey that were undertaken such as the Home Interview Survey, Journey-to-Work Survey as well as sample vehicle occupancy surveys and vehicle counts have been replaced by the a single Household Travel Survey (HTS).

The Home Interview Survey and the Journey-to-Work Survey were not able to provide the required information or data.
The result of HTS provides the travel behaviour, travel pattern and reason of travel of all surveyed household members at a given time.

Furthermore, the Committee was advised that the Department has incorporated the relevant information from the HTS in the planning and coordinating initiatives in the Land Transport Sector.

The DoT also plans to undertaken phase 3 of the HTS and other interventions like reports from e-ticketing.

Traffic counts are the responsibility of FRA and LTA.
It should be noted that Traffic Counts are not taken on an ad-hoc basis but needs to serve an objective whether to put traffic management devices or infrastructure like bridges to better service traffic objectives.

As stated earlier the review of the Acts of 36 the ITMP and will be initiative in the 2020-2021 financial year.

The Greater Suva Area (GSA) comprises of the Lami, Suva, Nasinu and Nausori Municipal Councils.
Therefore comparative figures from the FBoS revealed that the population in the GSA as indicated in the graph above is 93,666 and 227,410 for the years 1996, 2007 and 2017 respectively.

This growing trend confirms that the projections of the GSTS Report in that the 2007 statistics already makes up more than half of the total projected number in the GSTS Report of 350,000 by 2030.
The audit revealed that since the establishment of FRA in 2012, the Authority has not undertaken any specific counts during peak hours.

The last annual program of traffic counts was conducted by the Department of National Roads in 2009 this availability of historical volumes was limited.

Furthermore, the Authority advised that the traffic counting data exists but only for a few locations within Viti Levu.
In spite of having data for locations with LTA speed cameras and for some FRA Project locations, real robust traffic survey‟s including peak hour traffic counts through the cities and town in Fiji have yet to be undertaken.

LTA informed the Committee that the authority fixed red lights and speed camera network also serves as “traffic counters”.

This information is shared with the Fiji Roads Authority.
Furthermore, LTA confirmed that traffic counts are conducted on a needs basis and does not eventuate on a regular basis.

Although varying in purpose and magnitude, traffic counts are done by both implementing agencies (FRA and LTA).

However, data sharing between stakeholders does not exist.
In order to avoid duplication of work and wastage of resources and manpower, section 5.1.6 of the Maritime and Land Transport Policy suggests that:- “LTA’s role be clarified by redrafting Sections 8 and 9 of the LTA Act, which sets out its functions and powers, making it clear that traffic management, traffic counting, surveys and heavy vehicle statistical and enforcement weighing lies with the FRA; also that economic regulatory policy for road transport is the responsibility of the DoT, with the LTA acting as an implementing and enforcement agency” 37 Contrary to the above, redrafting of the LTA Act has not been done till date according to when this audit was undertaken.
In relation to enforcement weighing, the Maritime and Land Transport Policy identified FRA as the responsible authority however, subsequent amendments to the FRA Act has repealed this function.

The amendments to the FRA Decree in 2014 which commenced in 5 August 2014, amongst others, included repealing the FRA‟s enforcement authority in vehicle weighing limits stipulated in Section 6 (d) of the Decree.
Enforcement weighing is established under Section 73 (1) (g) which gives powers to a Police Officer, for traffic control purposes, to direct the driver of a motor vehicle to cause the weight of the vehicle and the load, including any trailer attached to the vehicle, to be ascertained by means of a weighing vehicle.

FRA advised that traffic counts are performed using a project based approach.
Therefore, traffic counts are not performed on a regular basis, rather they are conducted when data is needed for a particular project.

In addition, plans to implement the option on Traffic Congestion Collection Program under the Transport strategy will be subject to the establishment of the Traffic Management Unit within FRA.

This business unit was set up in 2018 and is currently awaiting recruitment of staff.
However, it is still imperative to note that 3 years have lapsed and the program is yet to be undertaken.

In relation to the re-drafting of Section 8 and 9 of the LTA Act, there have been no reviews done for the Land Transport Act 1998 in the past 5 years.

There was also no consultation with the public or the stakeholders in the Land Transport Industry to review areas that needs to be addressed in the Act.
However, at the beginning of 2019, the Legal Department sent copies of its submission to MoIT addressing some areas and relevant provisions in the act that needs review.

Upon verification of the vehicle counts data from the LTA speed cameras, it was noted that 14 out of the 20 cameras had the latest data dated between 21 January and 7 April 2019 while 3 cameras were inactive entailing that there were no data available.
The rest of the 3 cameras had traffic data counts from 26 October 2017 to 17 December 2018.

The auditors were advised that the camera locations shown on the FRA GIS website were images of polls.

There are only limited cameras installed.

Hence, these cameras are rotated between the 20 polls.

For this reason, some of the site have latest figures while other do not, as the rotation of the cameras between the polls leaves the rest of the camera polls as dummy polls meaning they would be inactive.
The polls are manually uninstalled and installed randomly between the available polls during the rotation process.

The camera site locations are situated at Tuvu, Vitogo, University of Fiji, Lomolomo, Nadi Airport Site 1, Nadi Airport Site 2, Nadi Back Road, Nawai Police Post, Vatudradra Police Post, Cuvu, Olosara-Andra School, Hideaway Resort, Maui Bay, Korolevu Police Post, Navola, Naboro Landfill, Monfort-St Thomas Primary School, Lami, Nakasi and Manoca.
The use and provision of traffic data will enable the government to draw up rational transport policy for movement of passengers and goods by both public and private sectors.

The review of the LTA Act and the FRA Act can prevent any overlapping functions by the two agencies and will ensure that resources are not wasted due to duplication of work.

LTA had pointed out the need for a Corridor Movement Study (i.e.
the number of people travelling into the City during morning peak and conversely, out of the City in the evening peak) and also the modal 38 share of commuters (i.e.

percentage of people using buses, taxis, minibus, private vehicles, etc.)
Furthermore, the audit enquired on how coordination is coordinated when traffic management is a function of both the LTA and FRA, the Land Transport Authority responded that one of the most effective ways is through the Operational Control Centre (OCC) concept but there will need to be a narrow definition of the FRA‟s role (who are essentially the highway authority, responsible for building and maintaining Fiji‟s roads) as well as LTA‟s role.
The LTA is mainly the Regulator for Land Transport but there are significant gaps in the legislation that prevents the Authority from acting as a proper regulator for instance:  LTA is not a commissioning agency – the authority cannot commission someone to run a bus service in a particular route.
What the authority does is that if there is a need to, in the event that Bus Company is failing, the LTA puts out an EoI which in itself is very weak because the authority can only award a temporary contract under what is called Section 66 for a maximum of 90 days.
The audit highlights that the Authority needs to be a commissioning agency to be able to award contracts for a period of up to 5 years and not 90 days only because most bus operators in Fiji are not interested in 90 days as they have to finance their businesses, employ staff, purchase busses and this is the reason why the authority is very keen on having such commissioning powers to award contracts to bus operators, mini busses for up to 5 years.
 LTA is not the Operator as the Last Resort – A number of rural bus operators are lurching on the edge of collapse.

There are probably 10 – 12 very high risk bus operators in Fiji and if one of them collapses, there would be a situation in Fiji where large sections of the rural population would be completely disenfranchised and currently there is no mechanism for dealing with that.
Whereas if Section 66 were to be amended, this would allow the LTA to award contracts for periods up to 5 years instead of 90 days, the LTA could then become the „Operator of Last Resort‟  If the Taxi Association requested a location to set up a base within a city or town, it is within the jurisdiction of local authorities and if it is outside the local government area, it is under the jurisdiction of the Department of Town and Country Planning.
There is a misunderstanding about who does what and who is responsible for what and it would be tremendously beneficial to the likes of LTA for that to be clearly spelt out.

Monitoring Network Efficiency 3.4 Lack of performance measures and targets or key parameters for monitoring the performance for the road and transport network in Fiji.

The audit observed that the DoT had successfully completed Phase 1 and 2 of the Household Travel Survey (HTS) in 2015 and 2018 respectfully.
A comparison of the 2015 and 2018 survey result revealed that there were longer trips (based on time) in particular work trips which had increased from an average of 28 to 32 minutes.

Although this analysis is acknowledged, it lacks clear performance measures and targets or key parameters such as measuring delays and speed, including the duration of peak periods, level of satisfaction, reliability and quality of road user information, etc.
for monitoring the performance of the road and transport network in Fiji.

In 2015, Fiji had successfully completed its first ever nationwide household HTS commissioned by the DoT of the Ministry of infrastructure & Transport as means to establish a sound basis for assessing 39 transport planning interventions and improving decision-making.
In 2018, Fiji‟s second HTS was completed and its report highlighted a comparison of the 2015 HTS as follows: Increased trip making in urban areas (40 per cent increase)   Longer Trips (based on time), in particular work trips (14 per cent increase)  Increased household car ownership (16 per cent to 23 per cent increase)  Low vehicle occupancy for work trips ( of vehicles carried no passengers) Based on the above results, the report confirmed that the rise in urbanisation and the influx of motor vehicles into Fiji is evident not only on the streets of urban areas like Suva but also in the HTS data which can be used to quantify the impacts on the transport network.
With this analysis, the report advised that these worrying signs for congestion in urban areas should vehicle ownership continue to rise and the rural population continue to migrate to urban areas.

The report further highlighted that building new or explaining existing roads will not be sufficient to tackle congestion and the MoIT will need to provide guidance through transport policy and initiatives which lead to a more efficient transport network.
The audit revealed that the lack of clear performance targets and priorities to measure overall effectiveness of the road network impedes on potential congestion management.

The HTS results however, was not able to measure the targets of network efficiency and congestion management initiatives, it does not indicate that walking is the most commonly used mode of transport for all trips in Fiji.

The DoT advised that the HTS is a planning tool.


It is to determine the travel behaviour patterns of the people of Fiji so that transport agencies would be table to determine or plan accordingly to these patterns.

The Committee was informed that the Department is working on a communication strategy with regards to the HTS and all issues pertaining to the results will be disseminated through the strategy.
The HTS is a 3 phased programme and the department has completed 2 out of 3 phases and there are plans for the 3rd phase which will give a holistic picture of the travel behaviour pattern of the people of Fiji.

The Ministry has completed 2 phases of the HTS which is an important survey for the transport sector.

And the 3rd phase of the survey will be undertaken to ensure complete and comprehensive data is available for the Ministry to work on appropriate policies.
This is also in line with holistic survey of the transport of polices and legislations.

Centralised System for Data Collection, Analysis and Sharing 3.5 Lack of collaboration and coordination between agencies to integrate all related data in the centralised national transport database.

One of the main functions of the Department of Transport is to develop an information system and tools for monitoring the performance of the Transport Sector.
This ideally includes the establishment of a transport database and it was to be made accessible to all stakeholders.

The audit noted that in order to make the more effective use database of the database, it needs more input from all lead agencies in the transport sector.

However, the audit highlighted that there is lack of collaboration and coordination between lead agencies to integrate all related data in the centralised national transport database.
40 The National Transport Planning Database uses the Tableau Software to help answer policy questions.

The data from the Household Travel Survey (HTS) and other existing transport data sources, provides guidance on transport policy.

The transport database catalogue and integrates transport related datasets.

Amongst other things, the function scope of the data portal includes the ability to combine multiple datasets together for further analysis.
A review of the total expenditures revealed that the MoIT spent $1,440,361 from years 2015 till date, out of the $2,432,668 for the set up and operation of the database.

Expenditures on the database include purchase of the software which requires annual licensing, staff training and hiring enumerators and supervisors for carrying our phase 2 of the Household Travel Survey.
Furthermore, the audit revealed that the license for the database software has to be reviewed on an annual basis, thus, at the time of the audit, the database had not been updated and there were pending license renewal.

Hence, DoT confirmed that the information has not been updated on a timely basis.

It was noted that separate surveys and traffic data collections were being conducted by FRA and LTA.

Traffic survey results conducted by the LTA are given to organisations/individuals that request the data.
Thus the data gathered is also used by the Authority for decision making.

Data is shared on the request or need basis with relevant agencies.

The data is also shared on the LTA website for public information.

A comparison of total vehicle population from LTA and FBOS over 17 years from 2001 to 2017 was made.

It was noted that there were variances in registered volumes of vehicles of Fiji‟s roads for years 2006, 2012, 2015 and 2017 as tabulated below.
Year 2006 2012 2015 2017 LTA Data 81,751 83,288 101,426 119,050 The information captured above indicates that the database has not been updated pending license renewal.

FBOS Data 82,754 83,655 101,425 117,561 Variance 1,003 367 1 1,489 The Department of Transport advised that the license has been renewed annually; hence there are no delays in license renewal.
The database captures all transport related data using information generated through Household Travel Survey as its baseline which is available for use for policy decisions.

Based on the analysis of the National Transport Database that included the installation of the streetlights as a result of the Household Travel Survey Phase 1 representing a snapshot that more people used actives modes of transport such as walking.
The HTS provides a number of recommendations that can be used for policy decision making.

Some of the outcomes from the HTS, which assisted in policy decision includes: (i) The creation of cycling paths as an alternative mode of transport (ii) Encouraging the use of public transport over the use of private vehicles.

(iii) Need to review the use of public transport permits especially in the different provinces as provided in the report.
The LTA has come up with a proposal to establish an Operational Control Centre (OCC) in Suva.

The OCC will control the delivery of all Traffic Management Strategies, National Disaster Planning, working 41 closely with partner agencies and the other key stakeholders such as Police, Fire and Ambulance.

This idea of the OCC came about due to the significant absence of coordinated leadership in the Transport Sector in Fiji with many agencies focusing on their core role while not looking at the big picture.
The OCC will become the Transport Management Office for Fiji where the LTA will take the lead role.

In the audit exit meeting, it was revealed that the LTA CEO advised that the National Traffic Operational Centre was written a few months ago.
It sets out exactly what is needed and what will deliver, not just for the Suva-Nausori corridor but for the whole of Fiji because it will go to the centre for transport control, for traffic management, for the management of the signal systems (once the FRA converts to having smart signals where signal phasing can be altered).

At the moment, FRA cannot alter the signal phasing without actually going out to the signal controller altering it manually.
Resilience is built in system and there is a command and control system set up known as the Gold Command.

The LTA confirmed that the system is trialled and tested in Europe and the officer was actually involved in the setup of some operational centres.

The hierarchy below shows the Incident Management Process.
Gold Incident Commandor (Off site providing strategic direction and sourcing resources) Silver Incident Commandor (On site determining tactics and managing resources) Bronze (On site managing a specific function or activity) Bronze (On site managing a specific function or activity) Bronze (On site managing a specific function or activity) The Committee notes that the role of the Department of Transport is that of policy advice and decision.
Agencies such as LTA are implementers of the policies developed at the Ministerial level.

The Ministry had initially recommended the establishment of the National Transport Control Centre which is to be equivalent to an Operational Control Centre.

Hence, the Ministry supports the OCC and will work with LTA for the establishment.
The Committee further notes that given the urgency of policy directions and congestion management projects/programs ensure that the National Transport Database is updated without delay and being the agency responsible for maintain and updating the national transport database, make efforts to properly coordinate and collate data, the Department of Transport has advised that there is an existing database and the Ministry is working with partners to look at enhancing the database.
Monitoring into action responses/program modification 3.6 Land transport lead agencies do not address how monitoring is turned into action responses or program modifications 42 Section 3.7 of the Maritime and Land Transport Policy states that all transport sector agencies, including state-owned commercial enterprises (SOEs) will be required to develop, measure and report on key performance indicators for their activities and for the performance of the transport infrastructure, services and their use under their regulation, administration, management or service delivery.
The audit revealed that the main reason for the gaps between the performance monitoring and the action plans is because performance indicators are not effective.

This ineffectiveness is due to the fact they do not aim to reduce congestion.

The absence of congestion reduction goals within the transport sector can be attributed to the absence of clear nation-wide objectives on management.
The absence of clear linkages between planning, prioritisation and programming will not allow for a transparent analysis of the importance of congestion or a measurement of the effects of projects – either programmed or not – on congestion goals.

The Department of Transport advised that the audit report has picked on outdated reports.

Since the 2005 Fiji Transport Country Paper, there has been a number of plans and policies that have been developed.
The 5-Year and 20-Year NDP sets the new platform in terms of national vision.

This resulted in the Land and Maritime Policies being endorsed in 2016.

All strategies with regards to performance indicators is properly prescribed in the NDP and the Land and Maritime Transport Policies.

This is also filtered down to Strategic Development Plans for the different transport agencies.

This process has allowed for better traceable from the work of the transport agencies to the national vision.
Furthermore, effective performance measures should inform lead agencies in the land transport sector about what works and what does not.

Consistent and regular reporting of transportation system performance should have positive impacts on what transportation agencies do and how well they do it whilst providing useful feedback to the voters and their representatives on how well their taxes have been dealt.
LTA and FRA concurs that the DoT should set overall performance target to reduce congestion and looks forward to an effective collaboration with the stakeholders involved in ensuring that these targets are achieved.

The Committee was advised that the Department of Transport coordinates at a strategic level with the relevant agencies for the implementation of measurable performance indicators i.e.
:– (i) Manage traffic congestion through a system of measurable performance objectives; (ii) Not merely measure and report performance findings but also to design them into action plans, prioritisation and financial programming; and (iii) Implement rewards and penalties into the process regarding success and failures.

This might include bonuses or other financial reward for successful programs and negative actions for failures.
43 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS Pursuant to SO 110 (2), “where a committee conducts an activity listed in clause (1), the committee shall ensure that full consideration will be given to the principal of gender equality so as to ensure all matters considered with regard to the impact and benefit on both men and women equally” In 2015, the Republic of Fiji adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development that is aimed at improving people‟s lives economically, socially and environmentally.
SDG 11 objective is to make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.

SDG indicator 11.2 specifies that by 2030, countries that adopted the Agenda must provide access to safe, affordable and sustainable transport system for all, improving road safety, notably by expanding public transport, with special attention to the needs of those in vulnerable situation, women and children, persons living with disabilities and the elderly.
Aligning to the UN Convention on SDGs, section 34 of the 2013 Constitution of the Republic of Fiji states that every person has the right to reasonable access to transportation.

It also contains provisions for non-discrimination on the basis of, amongst other criteria, age, ethnicity and gender.
This indicates that the design of the transport systems should be such that are accessible and safe to use by different groups in the community including women, children, and elderly and persons living with disabilities.

The National Development Plan (NDP) emphasises on access to transportation through an efficient and sustainable transport network.

It also emphasises the need to ensure safe, efficient and affordable transportation which includes reducing traffic congestion.
The NDP‟s intention is to have a policy that ensures a safe, efficient (including reducing traffic congestion) and affordable transportation services.

Adopting better transport management system through carpooling is one of the strategies highlighted in the NDP.
The Feasibility studies to be undertaken to are: (i) Explore the viability of implementing public transport network design for an efficient and equitable public transport system; (ii) Introducing peak period public transport zoning for high demand corridors; (iii) Proper vehicle deregistration and scrapping of vehicles to maintain national fleet composition at manageable levels; and (iv) Encourage carpooling.
Adopting better transport management systems through Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and Carpooling and promoting the use of public transport8 The NDP has provided strategies that will counter traffic congestion including the adopting better transport management systems through bus rapid transit and carpooling and promoting the use of public transport.
The Greater Suva Transportation Study 2015 – 2030 which was commissioned by the FRA and completed in August 2014, had reviewed the previous 2011 strategy, covering the developing urban area from Lami in the Southwest to Nausori in the northeast.
The study sets out the packages of options aimed at improving traffic flow, promote public transport, offer various transportation services to 8 5 Year and 20 Year National Development Plan, Transforming Fiji, p 70 44 pedestrians, reduce congestion and improve observance of traffic regulations through a variety of locations, route and area-wide measures.
The OAG analysis based on FBOS and LTA Factsheet 2001-2018 revealed that government‟s priority to shift to public transport such as buses is a positive action in managing the significant increase in the number of vehicles on Fiji roads.

Interestingly, from 2007 to 2017, the proportion of registered busses to total registered vehicle only account 2 per cent when compared to private vehicle that accounts to 74 per cent.
The number of road traffic deaths continues to rise steadily, reaching 1.35 million in 2016.

However, the rate of death relative to the size of the world‟s population has remained constant.

When considered in the context of the increasing global population and rapid motorization that has taken place over the same period, the Global Status Report on Road Safety 2018 suggests that existing road safety efforts may have mitigated the situation from getting worse.
However, it also indicates that progress to realise Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target 3.6 – which calls for a 50 per cent reduction in the number of road traffic deaths by 2020 – remains far from sufficient9.

There are two primary methods being used to assess crash risk in Fiji:– 1) reported crash statistics from the Fiji Police database; and 2) Fiji International Road Assessing Programme (IRAP) risk ratings for major roads.
The Police maintain a coded recording of all crashes that Police attend or are reported by the public.

This includes fatal, hospitalised (serious injury), non-hospitalised ((minor) injury) and damage-only crashes.
Like most countries, non-fatal crashes are under-reported.10 Crash Casualty Data for Fiji (2004 to 2012)11 Type Fatal Hospitalised Injury Total Budgetary Allocations on Roads Works Managing Traffic Congestion requires substantial funding from Government in order to carry out its core roles as mandated under the FRA Act 2012 of which is to manage the country‟s roads, bridges and public jetties.
The FRA manages Fiji‟s road network through outsourcing maintenance and construction contracts to the private sector, a system that has proven to deliver efficiency, accountability and international standards The graph below shows the total budget allocations provided to FRA since 2014 financial year.
9 World Health Organization Global Status Report on Road Safety 2018 - https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/277370/WHO-NMH-NVI-18.20-eng.pdf?ua=1 10 Dr Shane Turner, National Specialist on Road Safety, Fiji‟s Decade of Action for Road Safety Program - https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Shane_Turner6/publication/334825574_Fiji%27s_Decade_of_Action_for_Roads_Safety_Program/links/5d42d3d0299bf1995b5beffa/Fijis- Decade-of-Action-for-Roads-Safety-Program.pdf?origin=publication_detail 11 Fiji‟s Decade for Action for Road Safety Program, p. 2 45 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 2014 2015 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20 Operating Capital Direct Payment Aid-in-Kind Source: Information Brief No.
200048: Budgetary Information on Road Works Carried out by FRA since 2014 FY   In 2012 financial year, there was only Head 40: Ministry of Works and Transport which had budget allocations under Programme 6: Roads and Jetties.

In 2013 – Head 40: Ministry of Works and Transport Programme 6 Roads and Jetties (all Activities 1 – 5) funding was transferred to Head 43: Fiji Roads Authority.

 Head 43: Fiji Roads Authority budget allocations are reflected from 2013 onwards in the budget estimates.
The details of FRA‟s 2019-20 budget estimates are provided as follows:– Operating Expenditure $19,665.3 $399,761.3 Capital Expenditure $99,000.0 Direct Payments $858.5 Aid in Kind For 2019-2020, the breakdowns provided in the budget estimates are as follows:  $60.0m for an on-going maintenance programme  $36.1m for renewals and replacement of roads  $62.4m for the upgrade and replacement of bridges and crossings  $26.4m to relieve congestion and improve road capacity projects  $33.5m for a community programme to improve the quality of roads and enhance pedestrian safety through the construction of footpaths and bus shelters, for people living in peri-urban and urban areas  $8.7m to Streetlight and Traffic Signals Improvement Programme  $52.3m for rural roads programme to improve accessibility to remote communities and provide those who reside there with ease of access to markets, education, health and other services  US$100m and US$50m respectively - the project is financed through Asian Development Bank and World Bank loans for the Transport Infrastructure Investment Sector Project aimed to rehabilitate roads, bridges and rural jetties  $5.0m for the design and construction of a four lane road from Nasoso Junction to Lautoka  $1.0m for the preliminary works for tar sealing of East Bank of Sigatoka Valley Road to improve rural Fijians‟ access to markets and pave the way for future development in the area 46 Fiji Roads Authority Total Expenditure, 2014-2015 to 2019-2020 Furthermore, the COVID-19 Response Budget was passed by the Parliament of Fiji on Friday 27 March 2020.
Below are the details of FRA’s 2019-20 Supplementary Budget estimates which are as follows:– Operating Expenditure $16,544.1 $260,000.0 Capital Expenditure $40,000.0 Direct Payments $858.5 Aid in Kind For 2019-2020 Supplementary Budget (COVID-19 Response Budget) the breakdown provided in the budget estimates are as follows:  $30.2m for an on-going maintenance programme  $33.2m for renewals and replacement of roads  $49.1m for the upgrade and replacement of bridges and crossings  $24.8m to relieve congestion and improve road capacity projects  $24.5m for a community programme to improve the quality of roads and enhance pedestrian safety through the construction of footpaths and bus shelters, for people living in peri-urban and urban areas  $8.7m for Streetlight and Traffic Signals Improvement Programme  $33.9m for the rural roads programme to improve accessibility to remote communities and provide rural communities with ease of access to markets, education, health and other services  US$100m and US$50m respectively - the project is financed through Asian Development Bank and World Bank loans for the Transport Infrastructure Investment Sector Project aimed to rehabilitate roads, bridges and rural jetties  $1.0m for the design and construction of a four lane road from Nasoso Junction to Lautoka.
SDG Indicator 11.7 states that by 2030, provide universal access to safe, inclusive and accessible, green and public spaces in particular for women and children, old persons and persons living with disabilities.
SDG Indicator 11.7 (b) further states that by 2030, substantially increase the number of 47 $445,290.1$567,243.1$273,327.6$382,714.8$563,056.9$419,426.60100000200000300000400000500000600000Actual Expenditure2014/15Actual Expenditure2015/16Actual Expenditure2016/17Actual Expenditure2017/18Estimate 2018/19Estimate 2019/20$'000 cities and human settlements adopting and implementing integrated policies and plans towards inclusion, resource efficiency, mitigation and adaptation to climate change, resilient to disasters and to develop and implement in line with Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, holistic risk management at all levels.
The Committee was informed that the Department had earlier this year worked with the National Disaster Management Office (NDMO) on the linkages between the Sendai Framework and Transport.

This will also be included as part of the review of the Maritime and Land Transport Policies.

48 COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONS The Committee recommends that the:– 1.
Department of Transport should conduct more stakeholders meeting at National level to discuss transport related issues and formulate strategies to ease traffic congestion; 2.

Department of Transport in conjunction with FRA, LTA and the Fiji Police Force to review the oversight role to include planning and evaluation of systems and processes; 3.

If practical, the Department of Transport to introduce digital Intelligence Transport System to provide real time data in order to ease traffic congestion; 4.
Department of Transport formulates an integrated Transport Master Plan to map out policies and strategies and provide regular update and policy direction; 5.

The introduction of sensor traffic lights whereby the lights will change according to the number of vehicles on the roads; 6.

There should be a dedicated bus lane in largely populated towns and cities or where appropriate.
The Committee suggests that during peak hours an opposite lane is temporarily dedicated for management of traffic in or out of towns and cities; 7.

All relevant stakeholders should have a target to reduce deaths and injuries from road traffic accidents by at least 50% in Fiji in line with SDG 3, Good Health and Wellbeing by 2030; and 8.
All traffic/transport stakeholders to provide access to safe, affordable, accessible and sustainable transport system for all, improving road safety, notably by expanding public transport, with special attention to the needs of those in vulnerable situations, women, children, persons with disabilities and older persons in line with SDG 11, Sustainable Cities and Communities by 2030.
49 CONCLUSION Whilst there are legislations and policies that governs the land transport sector in Fiji, its effectiveness and adequacy can be improved through proper and regular reviews and evaluations.

This warrants holistic reviews so that land transport issues, traffic congestion being a major one, can be appropriately and expeditiously addressed.
Coupled with the absence of prescribed procedures at the Department of Transport, there is a lack of formal arrangements/agreements to establish coordination between lead agencies in addressing the problem of congestion on Fiji‟s roads.

This weak coordination is particularly apparent during infrastructural developments where Traffic Impact Assessments are in most parts; the authority in charge of developing the road networks such as Fiji Roads Authority is not consulted prior to these developments.
The existence of certain governance structures such as the National Transport Consultative Forum is acknowledged.

Although the Forum finds traffic congestion issues encapsulated in the meeting themes, the lack of urgency in turning planned strategies into action, the forum entirely falls short of committing to alleviation and addressing head-on towards congestion management and its reduction as a primary issue.
The provision of duty concession has resulted in the increase in the volume of vehicles into the country.

This has further added to the number of vehicles on the roads.

Capacity constraint is another issue that will need to be addressed when combating traffic congestion and high number of imported vehicles.

The overarching responsibility for congestion management strategies/project effectiveness will need to be properly integrated in ensuring the issue of traffic is addressed in a timely manner.
Transport Demand Management has not been effectively used in Fiji in providing concise number of the forever growing population in the area between Suva to Nausori corridor as a tool for managing traffic congestion.

While limited transportation demand management initiatives has been explored and implemented since 2015, collectively this has been neither comprehensive nor sufficient to materially impact transportation demand for road use and related congestion.
Apart from the daily work of the Fiji Police Force in directing traffic at congestion spots, other recent progress in the management traffic along Suva-Nausori corridor has been from the supply of additional roads i.e.

double lanes between Nakasi and Nausori.
The monitoring and evaluation arrangements are comprised by the absence of a clearly defined land transport sector-wide monitoring and evaluation system at the strategic level, absence of systemic reporting by agencies on the impact of nationwide congestion management initiatives, absence of traffic data to enable a full assessment of the holistic pattern of congestion, absence of key indicators and trends in traffic performance measures and targets, lack of collaboration in integrating all related data in the centralised national transport database and monitoring not turned into action responses or programme modification.
At national level, there is no institutional integration framework to manage traffic congestion amongst the key stakeholders whereby monitoring and reporting arrangements can be further enhanced and improved.

The Committee notes that the continuous efforts in the implementation of actions under the Fiji Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020 National Plans.
However, it is anticipated that there will be more effective collaboration, integration and results oriented efforts from relevant transport agencies in controlling traffic congestions and at the same time alleviating the carbon foot prints in Fiji.

50 We, the undersigned Members of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts agree with the contents of this report: …………………………… Hon.

Alvick Maharaj (Chairperson) ……………………….. Hon.

Joseph Nand (Deputy Chairperson) ………………………….

Hon.


Vijendra Prakash (Member) ………………………………… Hon.

Ro Teimumu Kepa (Member) …………………………… Hon.

Aseri Radrodro (Member) 51 APPENDICES 52 APPENDIX 1: PUBLIC ACCOUNTS COMMITTEE QUESTIONS 53 PUBLIC ACCOUNTS COMMITTEE QUESTIONS Performance Audit on Management of Traffic Congestion (Parliamentary Paper No.

11 of 2020) QUESTIONS 1.


INSTITUITIONAL FRAMEWORK: 1.1 Legislative Framework Are there plans to review the Act to incorporate the differentiated role that needs to be taken up by the various transport agencies in order to avoid overlapping responsibilities that might be existing?

With the bicycle lanes being provided (e.g.

in the Suva – Nausori corridor), are there plans to review the Bicycles Act to make provision for the use of bicycles as an alternative means of transportation?
What is the way forward in regards to having railways as one of the means of transportation in Fiji?

1.2 Stakeholder Arrangement and Engagement DOT confirmed to the audit that there were no formal agreements or MoUs between the DOT and the other agencies responsible for the transport sector.
The absence of established formal agreements or MoUs may be a contributing factor in the weak coordination between relevant agencies which may lead to difficulty in achievement of common goals or objectives of these agencies.

Are there plans to introduce formal agreements or MoU‟s?
1.3 Policy Framework The audit recommended that:  DOT should review its Maritime and Transport Policy to incorporate implementation or action plans; and  DOT should develop a policy or framework to guide their oversight role, including policy advice, planning, coordination and engagement with stakeholders, monitoring and evaluation of systems and processes.

By when do you intend to implement the above?


1.4 Integrated Transport Assessment What is DOT‟s stand on the idea of the Integrated Transport Assessment?

Have there been discussions with the relevant transport agencies on the implementation of this?
1.5 National Transport Consultative Forum The Department of Transport should consider:  reviving the National Transport Consultative Committee (NTCC) so that this platform can be used by the heads of departments and ministries to discuss transport related issues related at a strategic level and also conduct the TWG meetings to discuss matters at operational level; and Including Managing Traffic Congestion especially the Transportation Demand Management in the agenda for the next NTCC meeting.
 What are your views on the above recommendation?

54 1.6 Increased Number of Vehicles on Fiji’s Road What is the status of developing the scrapping policy?

2 ADDRESSING THE TRANSPORTION DEMAND CAUSES OF CONGESTION 2.1 Electronic Road Pricing Initiatives Can LTA provide the total road user levied collected as of to date and how effective is this road user levy implemented to address traffic congestion?
Has the Department considered other alternative electronic price initiatives that can ease traffic congestion?

2.2 Public Transport Service Improvement Can the Department update us on the progress of the discussions regarding the Bus Schedule Plan and National Journey Plan?

Is there any plan to work on a Transportation Demand Management Strategy to include all stakeholders where they come together to address Traffic Congestion?
2.3 Dedicated Bus Lane The audit appreciates the initiative of the FRA on the need to have a dedicated bus lanes.

Can FRA update us on the plans in place to implement these bus lanes and if there is enough resources available to carry out this exercise?

2.4 Carpooling The audit noted that a survey by LTA noted that on average more than 75% of private vehicles commuting during critical times consist of either the driver only or one passenger.
Can the LTA provide an update if there is any plan in place to consider Carpooling as an option to manage traffic congestion?

Will the Department consider the “Park and Ride” concept?

2.5 Cycling and Pedestrian The land transport stakeholders have identified some active low cost and environment friendly forms of travel such as cycling and walking.

Can the FRA provide an update on the future plans in terms of infrastructure to support cycling and walking as a form of transportation?
2.6 Leveraging Opportunities for transport demand management Can the Department confirm on the progress made regarding the strategies discussed in this Traffic Congestion Solution paper?

What are the opportunities and progress of developing a Strategy that involves the co-operation of all stakeholders to address Traffic Congestion?
2.7 Implications for Future Investment Decisions Can the Department of Transport confirm on what actions are being taken to ensure that active co-ordination is undertaken between the transport stakeholders to address traffic congestion and if there is any demand management strategy being developed which involves all stakeholders?

55 2.8 Duty of Traffic Police Officer on Public Roads Are there any plans by the force to consider roistering traffic personnel‟s to coincide with peak travel hours?
Does the force study the data on travel patterns from Vodafone (e-ticketing) to help them harness their traffic congestion strategy?

3.

MONITORING, EVALUATION AND REPORTING STRATEGIES: 3.1 Monitoring congestion management initiatives Does the Department of Transport (DoT) plan to develop a monitoring system to carry out its monitoring task at a strategic level?

How will the DOT ensure that the monitoring system will efficiently and effectively monitor the performance of the land transport sector?
What is the status of this review process?

What is the timeline for the review process?

Does the reviewed Transport Sector Master Plan include appropriate measurement systems such as specific outputs, outcomes and performance indicators to help gauge the performance of the transport sector?

Is this 20 year transport Infrastructure Investment Plan the same as the 1993 20-year Fiji National Transport Sector Plan (FNTSP)?
If it is different, please elaborate on the differences and why the change from the former 1993 master plans?

How has the Infrastructure Investment Plan been improved from the 1993 master plan?

Please explain on why the issue was eventuating in the DOT?

Is there a problem of poor supervision etc.

in the DOT in terms of monitoring and reporting expectations?

How does the DOT plan to improve on this issue?


The purpose of the National Transport Coordinating Committee (NTCC) will be to foster inter-modal transport coordination and dialog, to identify and discuss emerging issues in transport infrastructure and service provision, to review the development of policy and planning in the sector and to monitor progress in the implementation of the Policy Action Plan and 20 year Transport Infrastructure Investment Plan.
According to the Department of Transport, they had submitted a paper to revive the NTCC which was not approved.

Is the DOT aware of why the Committee was not approved?

Was the Director of Transport formally advised of the non-approval of the revival of the NTCC?

There was no budget provided for in 2019 for the National Transport Consultative Forum (NTCF).

Please explain the impact of this on the deliverables of the DOT as the NTCF has been one of the Department‟s main outputs every year?
Is the DOT aware of why the NTCF has ceased in 2019?

Is this cessation temporary?

In the absence of the NTCF, The Department of Transport will have to rely on their TWG meetings every month.

How confident is the DOT that the TWG will be able to successfully achieve the same deliverables as the NTCF?

How has the DOT improved the use of the TWG‟s as a monitoring and collaborative tool to assist in their work of planning, coordinating and monitoring activities at the strategic level?
What is the process in resolving issues raised during the TWG meetings?

Was the TWG appropriately captured in the Costed Operational Plan for MOIT in 2019, replacing the NTCF?

The FRA, LTA and Department of Town and Country Planning agree that the DOT that all the lead agencies in the land transport sector have continued working in silo‟s and that the DOT is responsible for monitoring the land transport sector at the strategic level.

How does the DOT plan to improve on this issue?


How does the DOT and the MOIT as a whole plan to implement the recommendations specified on page 74 of the Auditor General‟s report?

3.2 Governance Arrangements for monitoring and reporting 56 With the limited land space in Fiji, is expanding infrastructure still a sustainable option to ease the road congestion problem as many research studies suggest that addressing the demand side of congestion would be more sustainable and effective?
The audit report noted that the DOT commented that they are currently working on two studies: (i) Sustainable Urban Transport Index project that deals with sustainability issues in the Transport Sector; and (ii) Study of electric vehicles project that was based on the Household Travel Survey which looks at electric vehicles as an alternative means of transport.

What is the status of this study?

Please elaborate on each of the studies?

What is the timeline for the completion of each study?
How will the results of the studies assist in improving the traffic congestion problem along the Suva-Nausori corridor?
The audit report recommended that the Department of Transport, in consultation with stakeholders should: (i) Review its governance arrangements and establish mechanisms for systemic monitoring and reporting by agencies on the progress and outcomes of state-wide congestion management initiatives; (ii) Properly establish the Traffic Congestion Mitigating Committee and convene with its meetings as soon as possible; and (iii) Commit to congestion management and reduction through transportation demand management as a primary goal in the short or medium term congruent to achieving the long term vision of Sustainable Development.
What is the status of implementation?

3.3 Monitoring Congestion Patterns According to the FRA Greater Suva Transport Strategy (GSTS), in order to assess performance, a continuous program of data collection and analysis will be required of the recommended high priority projects (traffic counts, travel-time surveys, bus patronage).

However, there is no data available to enable a full assessment of the holistic pattern of congestion, including volume of traffic and ratios of people to private cars.
How does the DOT plan to address this issue?

The audit report noted that traffic counts are conducted in isolation by the FRA and LTA.

Are there any plans to regularize traffic counts so that it is used to assess the overall pattern of congestion?

According to the GSTS, some important data collection exercises were undertaken, including a Home Interview Survey, Journey-to-Work Survey, as well as sample vehicle occupancy surveys and vehicle counts.
Unfortunately, none of these have been repeated on a regular basis since 2001, so the ability to analyse trends cannot be done formally.

Did the DOT incorporate the results of the above mentioned studies in planning and coordinating initiatives in the land transport sector?

How does the DOT plan to improve the consistencies and regularities of studies so that maximum value is achieved?
How does the DOT plan to improve coordination and collaboration with other land transport lead agencies, such as the FRA and LTA so that issues such as traffic congestion are addressed effectively and economically?
The audit report recommended that: (i) Traffic counts should be conducted on a regular basis which includes the actual number of cars on the road during peak hours of the morning and afternoon; and (ii) The LTA Act and FRA Act should be reviewed holistically so that responsibilities are properly demarcated in order to prevent overlapping of functions between FRA and LTA.

What is the status of implementation?


3.4 Monitoring Network Efficiency The audit report noted that the 2018 Household Travel Survey report revealed that Fiji has made limited use of decision-making support tools such as comparing savings in one area, for example travel times, with capital and operating costs and environmental impacts and recommend parameters and values to be used consistently for all transport projects.
Therefore, the Survey report pointed out that it was not surprising to see that there 57 are no agreed guidelines on transport related parameters to use for modelling and evaluation purposes.

The report further noted that some of these parameters such as trip generation rates by household type and region, vehicle ownership, vehicle occupancy, environmental impacts (externality unit cost per km), population growth rates, and expansion factors (i.e.
peak hour today), can be extracted more or less from the Household Travel Survey results and other existing data.

However, other key parameters require additional considerations and data collection except they were not part of the scope of work for the consultants who prepared the 2018 HTS report.
Nevertheless the consultants delivered some suggestions for these perimeters which included:  Social Value of Travel Time Saving (business and leisure) for evaluation;  Behavioural value of travel time savings (business and leisure) for modelling purposes;  Value of access, transfer and wait times related to In Vehicle travel time;  Vehicle operating costs for different modes;  Accident cost-fatalities, and injuries or varying severity;  Transport elasticity‟s (including total demand mode-specific estimates for costs and times);  Traffic growth rates; and  Active transport parameters (benefits to society of walking and cycling).
How does the DOT plan to address the above issue?

Does the DOT have plans in place to incorporate the suggestions from the 2018 survey report in order to improve a third Household Travel Survey report, if any?

The audit report recommended that the DOT should: (i) Make efforts to understand transport users need.

An effective tool would be through running of surveys with which results are able to improve the road and transport system in ways that address these needs.
In addition to measuring travel times which the 2015 and 2018 HTS has appropriately captured, future surveys should include a wide range of indicators, in consultation with stakeholders such as measuring delays and speeds, including the duration of peak periods, level of satisfaction, reliability and quality of road user information, etc.

; and (ii) Ensure that key parameters identified by the Consultants of the HTS reports are considered and form part of future survey engagements.
What is the status of implementation?

3.5 Centralized System for Data Collection, Analysis and Sharing The audit report noted that the National transport database has not been updated, pending license renewal.

Please elaborate on the purpose of the database?

What is the cause of the delay in license renewal?

The audit report noted that there were various policy advices and decisions that were made as a result of reports published on the National Transport Database.
This included the installation of streetlights as a result of the household travel survey phase 1 presenting a snapshot that more people used active modes of transportation such as walking.

What other policy decisions and implementations eventuated as a result of analysis work done through the database.

The LTA has come up with a proposal to establish an Operational Control Centre (OCC) in Suva.
The OCC will control the delivery of all Traffic Management Strategies, National Disaster Planning, working closely with partner agencies and the other key stakeholders such as Police, Fire, and Ambulance.

The idea of the OCC came about due to the significant absence of coordinated leadership in the transport sector in Fiji with many agencies focusing on their core role while not looking at the big picture.

The OCC will become the Transport Management Office for Fiji where the LTA will take the lead role.
What is the DOT‟s stand on the idea of the Operational Control Centre?

Have there been any discussions between the LTA and DOT on the establishment of the OCC?
The audit report recommended that the DOT should: (i) Given the urgency of policy directions and congestion management projects/programs, ensure that the national transport database is updated without delay; and (ii) Being the agency responsible for maintaining and updating the national transport database, make efforts to properly coordinate and collate data.

What is the status of implementation?


58 3.6 Monitoring into action responses/program modification The audit report noted that according to the 2005 Fiji transport country paper, it found that congestion had traditionally been measured through peak-hour volume/capacity ratios.

It then suggested that standard measures of system performance should incorporate travel time reliability, trip length predictability, and customer satisfaction.
Despite these suggestion, it was noted that there have been little to no efforts done to incorporate the above mentioned congestion measurements in any of the land transport sector‟s lead agencies planning documents.

Why aren‟t performance indicators captured in the land transport sectors‟ lead agencies planning documents?

Are officials of the lead agencies aware of performance indicators and its importance?

How does the DOT plan to improve this aspect of reporting?
Does the DOT plan to inform the lead agencies on the need to incorporate appropriate performance indicators in their planning documents so that activities are matched with the planned outputs and outcomes and reported successfully at regular intervals?
The audit report recommended that the DOT should: (i) Manage traffic congestion through a system of measurable performance objectives; (ii) Not merely measure and report performance findings but also to design them into action plans, prioritization and financial programming; and (iii) Implement rewards and penalties into the process regarding success and failure.

This might include bonuses or other financial rewards for successful programs and negative actions for failures.
What is the status of implementation?

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 1.

Describe briefly, the general level of awareness by the staff members of your Department, of Fiji‟s 5 years & 20 years National Development Plan, the 2030 Agenda, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the SAMOA Pathway?

2.
2.

Describe the mechanism, in any, currently in place in your Department to enhance awareness of your staff members, of the alignment between the national development priorities, as per the Fiji‟s 5years & 20years National Development Plan, with the SDGs and its targets and indicators?

3.

Describe how your Department monitor and report on the progress of the implementation of Fiji‟s 5years & 20years National Development Plan and of the SDGs under your responsibility?

4.
4.

Is your Department a part or member of an inter-agency or inter-ministerial/department co-ordination mechanism that plan, monitor evaluate the progress of the implementation of the National Development Plan and the SDGs under your responsibility?

If yes: a) How often does it meet?

b) What aspects of its function can it be improved?

If no: c) Do you see the need for such a mechanism?

5.
5.

Do you think your Department is sufficiently equipped to ensure an integrated and coordinated decision making process for SDGs implementation and for strategic planning?

6.

From your perspective, what are or ought to be the roles/functions of the lead government agency for coordinating the SDG implementation, and (b) how have these roles/functions been institutionalized?

7.
7.

From your best recollection, what steps has the Fiji Government taken so far to update or review its 59 institutional setup (beyond the SDGs lead agency) in order to support the SDGs implementation?

8.
8.

Briefly describe steps, if any, taken by your Ministry or Department to engage sub-national level including authorities, including provincial, district and community level authorities, in the design and implementation of policies and measures related to SDGs realization (for example by encouraging the localization of the SDGs or the design of local strategies)?

If so, what initiatives have been taken in this respect and what have been the results and or challenges so far?

9.
9.

What institutional arrangements or mechanisms are in place in your Department to engage civil society organizations, scientific community and private sector in the monitoring, review and follow-up of the SDGs?

10.

Do you think there is an interest within your Department to learn more about other countries experiences, training, tools, partnership arrangements, peer-to-peer learning, curricula and be a part of a global public service award system on SDGs implementation?
60 APPENDIX 2: PUBLISHED WRITTEN EVIDENCE The following copies of the written evidences and supplementary responses from the 4 agencies listed below can be accessed on link provided: the Parliament Website on http://www.parliament.gov.fj/committees/standing-committee-on-public-accounts/ following the 1.

Ministry of Industry, Trade, Tourism and Transport (Department of Transport) 2.

Land Transport Authority 3.

Fiji Police Force 4.

Fiji Roads Authority 5.


Ministry of Local Government 61 APPENDIX 3: ORAL QUESTION Oral Question 108/2020 directed to the Minister for Commerce, Trade, Tourism and Transport Hon.

Faiyaz Koya regarding the Traffic Management & Enforcement Strategy:– Tuesday 1 September 2020 http://www.parliament.gov.fj/hansard/#1614638956608-de2c7da7-eaa4 62