Serious concerns are being raised regarding a proposed Australian company's TNG Waste-to-Energy incinerator in Saweni, Vuda, and a group of concerned citizens known as Protect the Heritage Coast - Vuda, Saweni is now gathering signatures for a petition to stop this proposed set up from going ahead.
The growing number of concerned citizens say in order to run the 80Mw incinerator they need to burn 900,000 tonnes of waste.
They say Fiji has only 200,000 tonnes of non recycled wet waste and even if it all could be burned, 700,000 tonnes of waste will have to be imported.
The group has shared a post by a very concerned Ned Cromb, who says Fiji is not Australia's ashtray.
Cromb says countries like Australia are running out of landfill space and by 2030, their waste problem becomes critical, and when solutions get rejected at home, they start looking elsewhere.
He says look at Fiji, a small land mass, fragile ecosystems, and the communities depend directly on clean land, clean water, and clean air.
Cromb says we are being asked to take on hundreds of thousands of tonnes of foreign waste every year, this is not development, this is risk transfer, and incinerators do not make waste disappear.
He says they create toxic ash, emissions, and long-term environmental liabilities that have to go somewhere.
Cromb says Australia has the space, the resources, and the responsibility to manage its own waste.
The residents say they are here to say not here, not next to our beaches, not in our backyards, and tourism is not trash.
They stress that the coastline is under threat as the waste-to-energy plant is being proposed in the heart of Saweni/Vuda, right beside Saweni Beach, Vuda Marina, First Landing Resort, Nila Resort, Landers Bay Resort and the Dreketi Inlet.
The concerned people say this is a residential and tourism zone, not an industrial dumping ground.
They call all citizens to oppose this.
Several issues of concern are being raised as the submissions continue on the proposed project.
Meanwhile the Department of Environment states that it has received an Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) report for the proposed development of the Energy-from-Waste Industrial Precinct and Private Port at Vuda Point.
The Department says the developer, The Next Generation Holdings (Fiji) Pte Limited proposes to build a waste facility and private port that will convert waste into a domestic energy resource.
They say based on the Environment Management (Amendment) Act 2025; a member of the public may inspect and view an EIA report within 21 days after it is submitted to the Director Environment or EIA Administrator.
A physical copy of the EIA report has been made available from Monday for public viewing
at the Department of Environment, Headquarters at Level 2, 318 Bali Tower, Toorak Road, Suva, Department of Environment – Western Divisional Office (Level 1, Peekays Building, 61 Vitogo
Parade, Lautoka, Ba Provincial Council – Nadi Office and Vuda Marina Police Post.
After concerns raised about a soft copy is not available and the charges for it under the law being $5 per page, the Australian company has made the link now available for the proposed project and the EIA Report.
The EIA report covers more than 1500 pages in 35 different bound files.
The concerned citizens said to the Department’s credit, yesterday they said they are prepared to make available a soft copy of all 1,529 pages in order to facilitate wider, more democratic access.
But at that time they were still insisting on charging $5 a page whether it’s a paper or digital copy format, which have totaled $7,645.
You can click the link here :
https://tngfiji.com.fj/submission-statements?fbclid=IwY2xjawQxIqRleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeVw2zT2uv-Ei2c9UFq0tXRuPpiHJ4GQXL6jFkpCci5Iz-reZFGmS0rmagJms_aem_yq22FzLdvu7QK_NhsWeiEw
The Department says comments for the proposed Energy from Waste Facility and Private Port at Vuda Point received after 21 working days from the date of placement of the EIA report will be considered invalid.
All comments and feedback must be sent to the Department of Environment before 22nd April 2026 on email doewest8@gmail.com
Stay with us for developments.
Click below to see the petition
