Int'l engineering symposium kicks off in Fiji

SUVA, April 23 (Xinhua) -- The International Engineering Symposium started on Monday in the Fijian capital of Suva with some 300 participants from around 30 countries and regions.

Speaking at the symposium with the theme of "Sustainable Infrastructure Successful Economy - The Modern Day Challenges in Infrastructure Development and Delivery," Fijian President Jioji Konrote said the symposium is appropriate in light of the realities exposed by an increasingly changing climate that people are experiencing in the world.

He said that tropical cyclone Winston left devastation in its wake across a large part of Fiji in 2016, causing close to 3 billion Fijian dollars (about 1.4 billion U.S. dollars) in damage and displacing 45,000 people.

"But we vowed to build back stronger than we were before the storm, and we are doing just that. Our schools, our infrastructure, and the whole of our society is being engineered to a higher, more resilient, and more sustainable standard," said the president.

The president said developing sustainable communities was no easy task.

"But we must remain committed to ensuring that livelihoods are met, that children have a stable and reliable place to learn, that people are able to visit a health center, and transport their produce to trading centers ... Sound infrastructure is a vital component of economic growth," he said.

For her part, Fiji's Acting Minister for National Disaster Management Mereseini Vuniwaqa said a lot of infrastructural damage was caused during tropical cyclone Winston in Fiji two years ago and there was therefore a need for experts in the recovery and rebuilding efforts in the island nation.

"There's a need for experts like construction engineers to re-look the building code and provide recommendations on how the building code can be effectively applied around different boundaries and sectors with construction activities undertaken within urban and rural boundaries," she said. Enditem