Nakasi residents call on authorities to fix utilities and declare Nakasi a town

Nakasi residents are calling on the authorities to fix the community utilities and also declare Nakasi a town as they have significantly grown in terms of population and business in recent years.

Nakasi Community Association President Rupen Sharma says six schools are servicing the community, and without proper roads and walkways, there is a high risk of accidents happening in that area.

He says they have been working on their submission to become a town since 2018 and had made clear their intention during a public consultation in 2019 with Premila Kumar, who was holding the role of Minister for Local Government at the time.

Sharma says it does not make sense to him that they have all the major businesses and the population numbers in Nakasi, but they are still paying rates to Nausori Town Council.

When questioned if they have submitted their plans of becoming a town to the Coalition Government, Sharma says they are still working on it since the public consultation was a good opportunity to meet the right authorities and people.

He says during their submission to become a town in 2019, they had submitted more than 5,000 resident signatures.

He also says whenever they raise their concerns to the Council, the Council tells them that they don’t deal with the patching of roads and street lights.

The Association President says when they questioned the Council on what services are they providing as Nakasi residents pay rates to Nausori Town Council, the Council told them that it is garbage collection and grass cutting.

Sharma says he was concerned about the students' safety in Nakasi as there are no street lights and footpaths for them, and he had also raised it with the Education Ministry and the former AG, but nothing concrete came out of this.