Attorney General and Minister for Economy Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum has announced that some businesses in some sectors are now allowed to operate in the lockdown areas in Suva and Lautoka from Monday (6th April 2020).
He says for example under essential services they have allowed for food manufacturing plants and sanitizing manufacturing plants to remain open but there are other entities that are related to this.
Sayed-Khaiyum says for example, people who are making food or flour have packaging requirements.
He says these companies that manufacture the packaging materials, labels and wrappings can also operate.
Sayed-Khaiyum says there are certain textile and clothing industries that have the ability to do social distancing within their operations but still have demands or have to complete their overseas orders so they are allowed to operate.
He says container, cartage, supply and logistic services are allowed to operate because for example we have ships coming into Suva and we need trucks to operate to take that to the warehouse or to the supermarkets.
Sayed-Khaiyum adds we also have support services for the fuel industry and this includes the cartage of fuel but also should there be any maintenance or repairs required to fuel pipelines then these operations can also be allowed to function.
He says IT suppliers who have annual maintenance contracts and those who provide services in terms of systems crashing, can attend to these related matters.
Sayed-Khaiyum stresses that this does not mean retail IT shops can open.
He adds gas suppliers are also allowed to operate as some people in Fiji in particular urban areas need cooking gas that needs to be supplied.
The Attorney General says locksmiths are also allowed to operate.
He says the locksmith is not going to open the shop but they may be on call.
Sayed-Khaiyum says similarly with plumbing services, plumbers can be on call and attend to businesses and homes that need their services. This is the same for electrical services and air conditioning services.
The Minister for Economy says there are certain beverage companies that actually export a lot of products from Fiji to the other Pacific Islands and they are also allowed to operate including the manufacturers of cigarettes.
Sayed-Khaiyum says people also need access to chicken feed, fertilizer, hardware services and they have also allowed insurance companies and the Public Trustee Corporation to operate.
He says in respect of the construction sector, a lot the construction is carried out outdoors in particular in the initial stages of construction so there is enough social distancing in these open air construction sites.
He says people in the construction sector can continue to go to work but those people who will attend to work in these operations should come from within the confined area.
Sayed-Khaiyum there are a number of other businesses for example Ram Sami and Sons that supplies eggs to the Suva area.
He says their farms are outside the lockdown area so Police have worked out a mechanism as they have done in Lautoka where the drivers actually swap so they can bring the goods into Suva.
Sayed-Khaiyum says shipping companies have also been allowed to cross the border and do the right swaps to ensure that they continue supplies to the rest of the islands in the Fiji group.
Stay tuned for the latest news on our radio stations
