The increasing number of pot-holes, mud pools, and the collapsing verges on Tonga's public roads will not be all fixed this year, and it is now clear that the road network will continue to deteriorate until late in 2007.

Tonga's Minister of Finance, Hon. Siosiua 'Utoikamanu. today revealed that government has insufficient funds for road repairs.

Based on 2005 figures used in a World Bank assessment, it is estimated that Tonga has only 15% of the amount needed for full roads maintenance, and the picture may even be worse once the exact allocation for roads maintenance in the recently passed 2006-07 budget is known.

The Minister intends to fix the roads by introducing a tax on petrol and diesel in the 2007 budget to establish a fund dedicated for road maintenance.

Responding to concerns raised by members of parliament about the state of Tonga's roads, due to a decline in the level of maintenance, the Minister, in a statement today, sympathised with the members and said, "and I am sure the public are also feeling the sad state of the roads."

He stated that the road maintenance budget of the Ministry of Works was reduced, "as part of the government's fiscal response package to the public servants salary increase. These cuts were made permanent in this year's budget.

"We are estimating a deficit of $3.5 million in this financial year so the government does not have the funds to increase the Ministry of Work's road maintenance budget."

Hon. 'Utoikamanu said that the World Bank in December 2005 reviewed Tonga's transport sector and discovered that the current government spending on road infrastructure of $1.7 million per annum, "is only a fraction of the estimated $11 million annual cost to the Kingdom of the roading network."

The World Bank recommended that motorists should bear the full cost through a system of roading-related taxes on petrol and diesel and higher registration fees for motor vehicles of all kinds. "I intend to discuss it further with my Cabinet colleagues," he said.

While there is an obvious lack of funds for Tonga's transportation sector, which encompasses land, sea and air transport, for the first time last month Tonga has appointed a Cabinet Minister solely for Transport and Civil Aviation, Hon. Paul Karalus.