“When I first came to South Santo, the road conditions and access were very difficult. Sometimes our products would be wasted because we could not travel to the market due to bad weather. We would sleep by the road until we could find a truck to transport us.” – Rema Mere, local market stall owner at Luganville Municipal Market.
On Vanuatu’s Espiritu Santo Island, the South Santo Road has long been more than just a road, it’s a lifeline. For decades, families like Rema’s have endured isolation during floods with children unable to reach school, patients cut off from clinics, and market sellers watching their produce spoil as they wait for waters to recede. The 65-kilometer stretch, battered by cyclones and heavy rains, has tested the resilience of every community it touches.
Now, that story is changing.
The World Bank’s US$142.8 million Vanuatu Climate Resilient Transport Project (VCRTP), expected to be completed by December 2026, is upgrading this vital road to withstand the impacts of climate change. The upgrades are bringing real and much-needed change to around 40,000 people in Vanuatu, including the growing number of tourists on the island.
The project is reinforcing South Santo Road with paved sections using double bitumen made from aggregates sourced in Santo, stronger bridges, and larger culverts to handle heavy rains. Coastal protections guard against rising seas, and wet crossings keep the road open during floods. As part of the Pacific Climate Resilient Transport Program, the project also aims to improve Vanuatu’s road management, helping the local Public Works Department to plan future maintenance based on climate risks. These upgrades will ensure the road stays reliable, no matter the weather.
For local communities, connectivity has improved significantly as construction continues. The new infrastructure is enabling farmers and market stall owners to transport goods to markets in Luganville more reliably. Washed-out roads or flooded rivers would leave people, and their produce stranded. “If the local women prepare to sell their goods at the market but the river floods, they need to try to sell their food locally inside the village, but they are not able to earn the same amount of money they would earn at the market,” says Chief Kauri from Ipayato Community in South Santo. The enhancements to South Santo Road will ensure year-round access, boosting local incomes and reducing spoilage.
For VCRTP, community safety is a critical benefit. South Santo Road is prone to landslides and flooding, posing constant risks for all road users. Upgraded crossings and coastal protections, including enhanced seawalls, now minimize hazards, while paved surfaces improve vehicle control. “Before, we would drive on the road with very poor conditions, without bridges, and face many challenges. Trucks would become stuck in the mud, even on the main roadway,” said Loic Dimitri, a local transport driver in Santo. “The condition of the road is much better now than before.”
Access to essential services is also being transformed. Students can now reach schools and patients can access health clinics more easily, even after heavy rain. This is especially vital for women and children, who often bear the burden of navigating unsafe routes. Eleven new bridges, with two of these being pedestrian bridges, now span rivers that once cut off entire villages during storms. As Alice, a local mother from Wailapa Village shared, “When the rivers flooded, we faced many challenges here… [people] would be stuck on this side of the river unable to cross. I sheltered many people in my home.”
The road also connects rural areas to Luganville’s main port and airport, supporting tourism and trade. Upgraded roads lower transport costs, helping small businesses keep more profits. With fewer delays and breakdowns, transport operators are spending less on repairs and fuel, and more on expanding their services. This ripple effect is creating jobs, from road maintenance crews to market stallholders, and stimulating local economies and jobs.
But the project’s impact goes beyond the visible. Its climate-resilient design, factoring in flood risks, landslide zones, and future climate disaster scenarios, is crucial for the Espiritu Santo community. The World Bank, alongside the government of Vanuatu, is building for the long term with reliable infrastructure that will serve the country for generations to come, as they face the impacts of climate change in the region. “The only way to go is to build resilient infrastructure that will last. It’s the only way forward,” said Henry Worek, Acting Director General for the Ministry of Public Infrastructure and Public Utilities. The project’s emergency response mechanism also allows rapid fund reallocation for disaster recovery in the event of an emergency, ensuring communities are not left stranded at the most challenging times.
With the Sanma provincial government, local contractors, international development partners, and community leaders working together to ensure the project reflects local needs and knowledge, the Vanuatu Climate Resilient Transport Project is a story of collaboration. As the project moves into its final phases of completion, the vision is clear: a Vanuatu where no community is left behind, where roads withstand the storms, and where every journey whether to school, market, or clinic, is safer, easier, and built for beyond tomorrow.
