Minister for Local Government, Maciu Nalumisa has instructed the Suva City Council to do morning and afternoon inspections due to continued reports of workers seen working at the development site close to the cliff edge of Princes Road despite a Stop Work Order issued by the SCC to the developers.
Nalumisa stresses the Stop Work Order remains.
Tamavua Action Group President, Vincent McKenzie says residents have raised serious concern as they have seen work being done on some days including the public holidays despite the Stop Work Order. They also saw people working at the site on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.
When fijivillage News visited the site on Tuesday and Wednesday, we saw people working at the construction site.
McKenzie is asking what is being done about the repeated breaches as he says when he spoke to the SCC, the person at the site was trying to get in but the gate was locked and a number of dogs were let loose within the property.
Members of the Tamavua Action Group who are residents in the Tamavua area continue to gather signatures to protest against the development close to the cliff edge of Princes Road which they say was approved in 2014 without proper public consultations and without an Environmental Impact Assessment.
A link of the petition is being widely circulated, and the petition will be presented to the Minister for Local Government, Maciu Nalumisa and Minister for Lands, Filimoni Vosarogo.
The Tamavua Action Group says they understand that the approved plan involves building 6 apartment blocks on the lot - the first two, closest to the road were originally to be two storeys high; the second two, in the middle, three storeys high; and the final two closest to the cliff edge four storeys high.
The concerned group say they further understand that an amendment to the plan has recently been approved to allow the developer to add additional storeys to the apartment blocks.
fijivillage News has established that the developers are building three storeys high apartment blocks for the first two, four storeys high for the middle two and four storeys high for the two closest to the cliff edge.
The Tamavua Action Group says this development was approved in 2014 without a public consultation which is a fundamental requirement in the Town and Country Planning Act.
The Tamavua Action Group says given the scale of this development, and the risks associated with it, they are petitioning the Government to suspend work on this development until a full EIA is undertaken.
They say it is important that the EIA contain a comprehensive geo-technical engineering assessment that is in sufficient detail to assure the public that the geo-hazard risks have been sufficiently analysed and addressed.
SCC says the Stop Work Order stands however they are yet to comment on how they are dealing with the repeated breaches.
