Fishing Village Working Group provides an alternative parking solution to ease the traffic congestion

The Royal Solomon Islands Police Force (RSIPF) has continued to work with its partners and the community as part of the Fishing Village Market Working Group, to search for solutions to help ease the traffic congestion near the Fishing Village Markets.

The latest solution propose by the Working Group has been to source a safe and lawful alternative place for vehicles and drivers visiting the market to park. The RSIPF in conjunction with its Working Group partners, Solomon Islands Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SICCI), Honiara City Council, Ministry of Infrastructure and Development, Public Transport Board, Fishing Village Chiefs, Market Vendors and members of the Seventh Day Adventist Church have now managed to organise for an alternative parking location to be opened for use.

People travelling to the market by vehicle whether to deliver or purchase goods or to deliver or to collect people using the market may use the parking lot outside the Seventh Day Adventist Church near the roundabout on Vura Road.

Public transport members must only use approved pick up and drop off points, no persons are to be dropped off or collected from outside of the Fishing Village.

Deputy Director Kukum Traffic Inspector Brian Surimalefo says, “The RSIPF include all of our working group stakeholders are extremely grateful to the Seventh Day Adventist Church for their support and co-operation for allowing people the use of their parking space on Vura Road all day on Sundays, and on week day evening in order to help find a solution to this issue.”

Police will be at the Fishing Village Market this weekend to direct drivers and their vehicles to the alternative parking site, and to remind them about the previous campaign around Section 55 of the Road and Transportation Act, dangerous parking along any declared public road as define in the Roads Act, and this includes the Kukum Highway outside the Fishing Village Market.

After a period of education and awareness to allow people to adjust to using the newly available parking site at the Church the RSIPF will begin to enforce the law in regards to any continuing dangerous parking.

Inspector Surimalefo adds, “It would be regrettable if people continue to deliberately park dangerously on the Kukum Highway. Now a safe parking alternative has been made readily available to ease any traffic congestion. And as a management approach, Kukum traffic members will be monitoring, and where anyone deliberately ignore this road safety message, police will have no choice but to start to warn for prosecution drivers who park their vehicles in a dangerous position outside the designated area.”

“We have a newly opened highway which must be free from dangerously parked cars and available for all road users to use safely, says Mr Surimalefo.