RSIPF senior officers visit construction site at Mongga Bridge in East Central Guadalcanal

Senior Officers of the Royal Solomon Island Police Force (RSIPF) and China Police Liaison Team (CPLT) visited the construction site at Mongga Bridge in east Central Guadalcanal on 10 September 2022.

During the visit Assistant Commissioner (AC) National Capital and Crime Prevention Mr. Simpson Pogeava paid a field visit to the construction site while the visiting group surveyed the surroundings of the construction site and enhanced the security for the infrastructure project.

The senior RSIPF who have visited the construction site are the AC Mr. Simpson Pogeava, Provincial Police Commander (PPC) Guadalcanal Chief Superintendent Rodney Kuma, Director National Traffic Department, Superintendent William Foufaka, Operation Manager Guadalcanal Police, Superintendent Edwin Sevoa and frontline officers.

During the meeting, China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) Manager Huang Pengfei highly appreciated the support of RSIPF to deal with the social issues of drunk people and other minor offenses encountered during construction.

“I am happy to hear that the bridge would be a Christmas gift for local communities and appreciate CCECC for their qualified construction work, their contribution to improve local employment. With the generous support to drill four boreholes and donation of four 2000 litres water tanks for local communities is a great support to connect with the local communities in the Mongga area,” says AC Pogeava.

Mr Pogeava reaffirmed the importance of police assistance to this crucial infrastructure construction and instructed Guadalcanal Police to provide security support to CCECC to ensure the surroundings of the construction is safe.

CPLT led by Commissioner Zhang Guangbao and staff from the Chinese Embassy accompanied RSIPF senior officers for the visit in order to facilitate the communication between RSIPF and CCECC. CPLT also gave some suggestions for further cooperation between RSIPF and CCECC.

The Government of Solomon Islands (SI) is implementing the Construction of the Mongga Bridge in Guadalcanal Province with the assistance of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The Ministry of Infrastructure Development (MID) is the Executing Agency. CCECC is the builder of the Mongga Bridge.

The work consists of three major categories: the construction of a new bridge, which is 90.0 meter long and 6.9 meter width, the construction of approaching roads and the maintenance of the road from Mbokokimbo to Mongga (17 KM). This construction project started from 15 July 2020, and is estimated to be completed on 14 January 2023.

In order to take this bridge as a Christmas gift for the SI government and local communities, CCECC is trying its best to speed up the construction of the bridge and aim to get it completed before Christmas in 2022. Therefore, it is compulsory to ensure a sound and secured surroundings of the construction site is paramount.