New look for Nuku'alofa CBD [1]
Wednesday, February 29, 2012 - 14:53. Updated on Monday, September 9, 2013 - 18:40.
The Nuku'alofa Central Business District CBD is like a town that is getting ready for a party, new buildings, new roads, new car park, and even a new wharf, all that we are waiting for now are for the guests to arrive.
Six years after riots destroyed the heart of Nuku'alofa on November 16, 2006, the reconstruction work funded by an TOP$118 million loan from China is expected to be completed by March 31 this year.
The $118m loan is the biggest that the government has ever made from China. Government onward-lent the funds at a slightly higher interest rate, to some of the people who lost their commercial properties in the fire.
Construction work started in 2009, and today the works completed include a new Taumoepeau Building, a new O.G. Sanft Building, a new City Assets Molisi Tonga Building, the renovation of the Royal Palace, an upgrade of the Royco Building and the reconstruction of Vuna Wharf.
As of yesterday, 28 February, works that had not been fully completed included the Tungi Arcade, a car park in Central Nuku'alofa and a road from Vuna Wharf to Hala Vuna.
Taukei 'Ahomana, the representative of the employer, the Ministry of Finance in the Nuku'alofa Development Corporation, told Matangi Tonga on 28 February, that the eight projects which absorbed all the multi-million loan from China and their loan allocations were:
- O.G. Sanft Building - $10.2 million
City Assets (Molisi) - $6.7 million
Royco Building upgrade- $2.2 million
Vuna Wharf reconstruction - $31.5 million
Civil Works (road works, drainage and car park) - $16 million
Royal Palace renovation - $13.5 million
Tungi Arcade - $16.5 million
Taumoepeau Building - $7.1 million
The Project Manger for the reconstruction of Nuku'alofa, Mr Yang told Matangi Tonga that the Tungi Arcade would be handed over to the Free Wesleyan Church on March 28.
Meanwhile, Mosese Lavemai, the CEO of the Nuku'alofa Port Authority, said the date for the Vuna Wharf opening is pushed back to May, when a high level Chinese delegation is expected to visit Tonga. "It is good that they will be present at the opening to acknowledge that it was their money that Tonga borrowed to finance the project," he said.
Other multi-million pa'anga road works have been ongoing in Nuku'alofa, utilizing a $9 million loan from Asian Development Bank and another $80 million from China for road works in Nuku'alofa throughout Tongatapu, and also in the outer islands.