DULUX Paints Fiji, the manufacturers and distributors of paint products in Fiji and the Pacific, will be investing between $20-$25 million in a new manufacturing and production plant in Lami.
The investment – fully funded by the company – will cover the acquisition of land, the demolition of current structures and the construction of the new facility.
In an interview with this newspaper, Dulux Paints Fiji chief executive officer Roshan Singh said this plan was now progressing, and they had identified and acquired six different lots next to the current property at Nukuwatu.
“We are required to expand because our volumes are growing, the demand is growing, our product range is also growing,” Mr Singh said.
“So to meet the demand from our Fiji and Pacific markets, we need to have this investment.
“The current factory that was invested by our shareholders and directors 40 years ago, that took us this far. We want to invest into a facility that will take us 20 years forward, that will be able to meet the demands coming 20 years ahead.”
Mr Singh said the new facility will cater for manufacturing and production.
He said they planned to launch the new factory in the next two years.
“Our target is mid of 2028 and that’s what we’re working towards.”
Mr Singh said the multi-million dollar facility would be semi-automated, with the focus of introducing technology that reduced the human impact in the production.
“But the main focus of this factory is increasing our volume, increasing our production capacity and the main thing is making sure we are environmentally sustainable.
“We are looking at renewable energy and we are also looking at wastewater recycling.”
Mr Singh said they were also expecting challenges along the way and they had a team ready to counter those.
He said this new investment would mean customers in Fiji and the Pacific would have a world-class product that was manufactured in volumes and would be price competitive as well.
Dulux Paints sells 70 per cent of its products in country and the other 30 per cent is sold to the export markets.
It exports to Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu, Kiribati, Nauru and Wallis and Futuna.
