Pacific / Vanuatu

Chinese company completes first phase of Vanuatu road project

11:25 am on 8 January 2019

The China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation has completed the first phase of the tar-sealed roads on Vanuatu's Malekula and Tanna islands.

The main road across the interior of the Vanuatu island of Tanna. Photo: RNZI / Jamie Tahana

Construction on the roads began in 2015 and the total length on each island is to be 45 kilometres.

They are scheduled to be completed by 2020.

CCECC spokesperson Lilyrose Welwel said the project is supervised by the Ministry of Public Works with a loan from the Chinese Exim Bank totalling over $US4.3 million.

The Chinese company is currently in a legal dispute with the Cook Islands government over complaints about the quality of its work in the rebuild of the Rarotonga water supply system.