THE sudden absence of Grace Road Group president Daniel Kim from its operation last year led to a significant $30million drop in the company’s investment in Fiji, according to a company spokesperson.
The operation of the South Korean Christian Group empire had been at the centre of ongoing controversy after investigations launched by the South Korean government into its business activities culminated in Fiji’s rejection of Mr Kim’s application for Fijian citizenship last year.
Mr Kim is in the custody of Fiji Immigration Department in relation to on-going judicial cases, “In 2022, we invested around $60-70million but in 2023, we invested around $30m because the projects were delayed due to the sudden absence of our group president, Mr Daniel Kim,” company spokesperson Grace Park said.
The group has just opened a new $8 million outlet on the Nadi Back Road and an additional $50 million worth of projects planned for this year, said Ms Park.
“One of the challenging issues we are facing now is that we are still waiting for the plan approvals from relevant authorities that we have applied for since last year, and these delays are causing overall project delay,” she said.
“We are contributing to the balanced development of the country by developing suburban areas such as Navua, Yadua, Sabeto, Vitogo, Ba and Rakiraki and creating employment in those area.”
She said for the past 10 years, Grace Roads had been operating non-stop.
“To be honest, if we were a normal foreign investor, we would have already taken our money and run away. But we are different.”
