No decision yet for Waste to Energy project in Vuda - Tabuya

Minister for Environment and Climate Change Lynda Tabuya has cleared the air that no decision has been made yet on the proposed Waste-to-Energy and Private Port Development by TNG Proprietary Limited at Vuda Point.

However, Opposition MP Premila Kumar says the proposed project is not an investment in Fiji's future but an indictment of the government's failure to protect it.

While delivering her ministerial statement this morning in Parliament, Tabuya says the Environmental Impact Assessment process is currently underway and the project has attracted significant national attention, as developments of this scale and nature rightly should.

Insert: Tabuya on proposed project, 27th April 26.

She stresses that the final determination will be made in accordance with the law, guided by evidence, and informed by consultation.

The Minister says, in any functioning democracy, ministers will meet with investors, landowners, community leaders and stakeholders.

Tabuya says these engagements allow proposals to be presented, concerns to be raised and information to be shared, but it is important to be clear that a proposal is not a permit.

She says a discussion is not an approval and under Fiji's legal framework, the authority to assess and determine environmental impact assessments is anchored in a statutory process established under the Environment Management Act 2005 and its regulations.

She adds that the framework exists to ensure independence, transparency and technical integrity.

Tabuya says the public response has been significant, including 875 written submissions, more than 5,600 online petition signatures, and over 3,100 paper-based signatures.

She says public consultations were also held in Viseisei, Naikorokoro and Waraibetia.

She also says these figures demonstrate that the process is active, accessible and being utilised by the people of Fiji.

Tabuya stresses that there will be no political interference, no predetermined outcome, and the decision will be guided by law, informed by evidence and shaped by consultation.

Responding to the ministerial statement, Opposition MP Premila Kumar stressed that this project has been opposed by the custodians of Viseisei, the tourism industry, the Minister for Tourism, athletes, landowners and tens of thousands of citizens.

She says when a government moves forward despite the chorus of opposition, it is not governing.

Kumar also said in Parliament that this proposed project has been rejected by Australia and is asking why the government would proceed with a project that is deemed too dangerous for a Western Sydney suburb.

She says this shows that our regulatory systems are weak, our institutions are vulnerable to commercial pressure and that somewhere in the machinery of power, the well-being of ordinary Fijians ranks below the interest of a foreign investor.

Insert: Kumar on project, 27th April 26.

Kumar says we are not being offered an energy solution but a contract to become the Pacific's rubbish bin.