From the House by Pesi Fonua.

Two urgent bills to amend the Traffic Act and the Roads Act, as well as a Petition alleging unfairness in awarding government roads deals, stirred a few aggressive exchanges in the Tongan parliament on Monday and Tuesday this week.

It was suggested there was unfair conflict of interest and vested interest in who was getting the quarry supply deals.

There was also an objection that the urgent bills had not gone through the proper procedure and had not gone to the Standing Committee on Legislation for legal scrutiny.

Parliament  went ahead and passed the two urgent bills, a Traffic Bill 2020 and a Road Bill 2020, on Monday and Tuesday, after they were tabled by the Prime Minister Hon. Dr Pohiva Tu'i'onetoa.

The two Bills are essential components of the government’s multi-million pa'anga national roads project that aims to construct and tarseal 2149 kilometres of roads during the next two to four years.

The Prime Minister stressed that at the completion of the tarsealing project there would be development of 1020km roads in Tongatapu, 505km in Vava’u, 244km in Ha’apai, 245km in ‘Eua, and 135km in Niuatoputapu and Niuafo’ou.

There were also questions over whether the estimated $300 million cost of the development made sense this year with a national budget deficit and CoVid-19 emergency.

Petition

A Petition tabled by Tongatapu no. 9 People's Representative Penisimani Fifita sparked off concern by some members of the House that there were Cabinet ministers with investment interests and a conflict of interest in the three quarry companies that Cabinet has selected to provide gravel for the construction of the entire roads project.

MPS questioned why it appeared quarry deals were being awarded to only three companies^1..

These were named in the petition as:

• City Engineering and Constructions Ltd.
• Inter Pacific Ltd.
• Island Dredging Ltd.

Traffic Bill

The Traffic Bill 2020, the first to be tabled into the House on Monday afternoon 13 July, was passed.

The Traffic Bill 2020, according to the Minister for Infrastructure and Tourism, Hon. ‘Akosita Lavulavu, is the first attempt by a government to amend the Bill since 1958. When the 1958 Traffic Act was enforced there were only 100 vehicles in Tonga. She said that today there are 24,3781 vehicles on the roads.

The full text of the Traffic Bill's 56 clauses has not been released to the public but in parliament it was said that it introduces new safety standards. The Bill makes it illegal for a driver to be holding onto a child while driving, and illegal for children to be hanging out of the vehicle’s windows.

It will be illegal for people to blacken the windscreens of their vehicles, and to have loud speakers blasting out, and bright flashing lights.

It will be illegal for a driver to use a mobile phone while driving.

It included a new requirement for drivers and front seat passengers to wear seat belts (but does not apply to children under 12 years old.)

Other information that has been released on parliament's website says that the Traffic Bill:

• Gives the Minister of Finance authority to set up a separate Roads Maintenance Funds under Treasury where money from vehicle registration and grants for road work go directly towards routine road maintenance.
• Introduces permits for working on the roads (affecting it), requiring repairs for any damage. There are fines of up to $100,000 for offenders who operate without a permit.
• Heavy vehicles with metal non-rubber wheels are prohibited to running on tarsealed roads and large vehicles such as semi-trailers with containers running on certain roads, without a permit.
• The Bill prescribes the standards for road design and construction standards. This includes execution of works within the public road, permission for occupation, standards and conditions of the works.
• The Bill also requires adjacent landowners to keep their roadside vegetation and overhanging trees from damaging the integrity of the roads or affect safety in road use.
• A new offence in the Bill includes illegally leaving things on the road such as shipping containers left on the roadside causing damage to the road, and also becoming a safety issue

Tongatapu People's Representative no. 4 Mateni Tapueluelu, suggested that they differentiate the siren sound of an ambulance, from that of the Police and that for the fire brigade.

Tongatapu Nobles Representative, Lord Tu'ivakano expressed his concern that the House was rushing though this Urgent Bill, which should have first gone through the Standing Committee on Legislation. “There is a lot of work to be done in the Tongan and the English versions,” he said.

The Traffic Bill with 56 clauses was passed by the House on Monday, 13 July with votes of 19-0.

Roads Bill

The Road Bill 2020, the second urgent bill that was tabled by the Prime Minister, on 14 July, was passed in the evening after a few tedious exchanges by members.

Though a majority of the members supported the concept of fixing the public roads, but it was apparent that there were concerns over the reality that it is going to be a huge national project, estimated to cost $300 million at an uncertain time with the COVID-19 and the fact that Tonga is currently entering an uncertain financial year with $60 million national budget deficit.

The Tongatapu no. 1 People’s Representative no. 1, Siaosi Pohiva moved for the Bill to be deferred until “after CoViD-19”, but his motion was not seconded.

The debate by the House over the Roads Bill 2020 focused on how government was planning to finance this multimillions project, taking into account the current status of Tonga’s economy. Some of the members were also very critical of how government is planning to finance the project and to maintain the status of the newly tarsealed roads.

Once again, the full text of the Roads Bill had not been released to the public.

The Tongatapu no. 2 People’s Representative, Semisi Sika, a former Minister of Infrastructure, queried the Road Maintenance Fund and the composition of the Road Maintenance Fund Steering Committee.

Clause 9 of the Bill empowers the Committee to collect money for road maintenance. He said there is a list from “A to G” of sources of funds, including annual licence fees, the checking of vehicles and from the disposal or sale of things that had been left on the road (ie it will be illegal to leave shipping containers on the side of the road).

He moved to delete “E. F. and G.” because he was convinced that these would enable the Committee to seek funds from other unknown sources, (but he did not spell out the actual wording of “E.F.G.”).

Vava'u no. People's Representative Samiu Vaipulu pointed out that “F” would enable the committee to seek funds from overseas.

However, Semisi Sika said that speaking from experience, from sources ABCD the committee could collect $10 million, with sources "E.F.G." he predicted there would be problems, unless if they established a set amount.

“Outside member”

Tongatapu Nobles Representative Lord Tu’iha’angana queried who are the members of the Road Maintenance Fund Steering Committee, and how were they selected.

There was also a concern about the selection of an “outside member”.

After the lunch break, Hon. ‘Akosita Lavulavu suggested for the Selected Additional Member of the Road Maintenance Fund Steering Committee to be the Attorney General.

When the Chairman of the Whole House Committee called for votes on the motion to delete “E.F.G.” from Clause 8. It was rejected 9-12.

The Roads Bill No. 10 it was carried 12-9.

In the Legislature the Roads Bill was passed with 13-9.

The Petition tabled by Penisimani Fifita expressed the dissatisfaction of five quarry companies who believed it was unfair for government to award its multi million pa’anga road project to three quarries.

Footnote:

1. The three companies: A search of the Tonga Business Registry shows that one of the companies was recently formed in November 2019, and the other two have had recent changes of directors. At least one of those companies has historical links to the husband of the Minister for Infrastructure (he was a director until 23 April 2020). One of the companies has changed its name. One that was struck off the registry for late filing, had historical links to another Minister, and it was not clear whether or not its registration had been fully reinstated.