Tonga's new multi-million Parliament Building to be built on seafront
Sunday, November 14, 2021 - 21:00
A new multi-million Tonga parliament complex will be constructed on the Nuku'alofa waterfront - where project coordinators say the ground level for the building will have to be raised by about three meters to protect the national infrastructure from the effects of climate change and future sea level rise.
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Several questions come to
Several questions come to mind. How much fill will be needed to raise this structure 3 meters and where will it come from? Just as an estimate it could take more than 600 7-meter truck loads of quarry materials. But with what trucks and from what quarries? This reminds me of the attempt to fill the Popua mangrove swamp with fill, for a golf course which seemed rather impossible at the time. In the event of sea-level rise, the question is when, not if, It will happen. What then will be the disposition of buildings adjacent to, and behind this site? With even relatively minor sea-level rise even residences in Sopu and Tukutonga will become uninhabitable. People will have to be relocated. It seems to me that relocating the Capitol will be inevitable within the next several decades.