Minister for Local Government Maciu Nalumisa says the Strategic Master Plan for Viti Levu and the Concept Master Plan for Greater Suva, Nadi, and Lautoka which was formalised in 2018 stalled because of lack of political will while Opposition MP Premila Kumar says COVID-19 from 2020 to 2022 caused the delay.
While responding to a question on the Plan in Parliament, Nalumisa says the project was initiated by the former government in 2017 and formalised in 2018 through a partnership with the Singapore Cooperation Enterprise.
He says despite getting $3.5 million in public funds, no final presentation was made to Cabinet and there was no inter-agency framework or delivery roadmap.
He says the Coalition Government undertook a comprehensive technical review and by September 2024, all deliverables from the Singapore Cooperation Enterprise were received and submitted to Cabinet.
The Minister says that unlike their predecessors, the Coalition Government did not stop and a Cabinet Steering Committee was established to review the deliverables, and now a dedicated Cabinet Subcommittee — which he chairs — has been formed to oversee and drive implementation.
He says $1.957 million has been allocated in the current financial year to support this work.
Meanwhile, Kumar says Nalumisa failed to recognise that Fiji experienced the COVID-19 pandemic from 2020 to 2022, during which borders were closed — clearly delaying the Singaporean team’s ability to deliver.
She says there was a clear Terms of Reference and list of deliverables for the first phase and the Minister claims the first phase was inadequate, yet has proceeded to the second phase.
Kumar questioned why the government is moving to the second phase if the first phase was not good enough.
In his response, Nalumisa has clarified that the agreement with the Singapore Cooperation Enterprise was signed in 2018, well before COVID-19.
He further says they are now seeing that the master plan — the first phase — is not right so they are moving on to the detailed master plan.
Nalumisa adds they have taken this very seriously and the subcommittee is going to go ahead with the detailed phase of the plan.
