Nuku'alofa reconstruction starts next week [1]
Thursday, November 13, 2008 - 11:59. Updated on Wednesday, July 29, 2015 - 16:07.
The Groundbreaking Ceremony to officially mark the commencement of the Nuku'alofa reconstruction will be held on Tuesday, November 18 - over two years after the riots and fires that destroyed buildings on November 16, 2006.
Tukua Tonga, the Head of the Planning and Urban Management Division of the Ministry of Lands, Survey and Natural Resources said it had not been confirmed whether HM King George Tupou V will officiate at the ceremony to be held at at the old TCF site opposite EM Jones Ltd. store on Taufa'ahau Rd.
After the groundbreaking ceremony the work will begin with sealing off the construction sites for security and safety reasons, and the first work will be the excavation for the drainage.
Tukua said they will first seal off the TCF site and will confirm later in the week from the Ministry of Works, what will happen to the remains of the two storey Taumoepeau Building on Hala Fatafehi.
"That building will take a lot of work since it has to be demolished," he added.
The construction of facilities for a modern Nuku'alofa Central Business District is largely funded by a $120 million pa'anga loan from China and other loans to the Tonga government for civic works and the rebuilding of businesses.