WITH nearly 13,000 ratepayers and 54 informal settlements within its jurisdiction, the Nasinu Town Council is tasked with looking after the largest municipality in Fiji in terms of geographic area.
For council CEO Felix Magnus, the challenges he and his staff members face on a daily basis range from the need to provide essential services, infrastructure upgrades, to community support.
But in the heart of it all is littering and waste management.
From illegal dumpers sneaking in from outside town boundaries to overflowing settlement bins and decades-old infrastructure unable to cope, the council is fighting a daily battle to keep its streets clean.
The cost of keeping clean
Waste collection brings in no revenue, yet the council must clear rubbish from both formal and informal settlements — the latter paying no rates or garbage fees.
“They don’t pay us any rates, nor garbage fees, but somebody has to look after their waste.
“So, the council has to go out and look after the waste in the informal settlements, and we have 54 of them.”
For the 2024-2025 financial year, the council spent more than $3.3million on its solid waste management, where a total of 15,423 tonnes of waste were collected.
For this financial year, the council requested $3.2m from the Government to fund waste management, but received only $1m.
This is the same story with the Suva City Council (SCC), which requested more than $1m but received only $400,000 from the 2025-2026 Budget.
And just like SCC, Mr Magnus said Nasinu would also “negotiate for the remaining” balance “to be able to carry out the work” that they do.
“We will negotiate for the other $2.2m because we need a government subsidy to be able to carry out the work that we have been doing over here in Nasinu.”
Debt recovery to cover the budget gap
The shortfall has left gaps in service delivery, and the CEO admits they will have to work harder on rates and debt collection to keep operations going.
“We will have to provide the services, irrespective of this.
“We’ll have to go hard on rates collection and debt collection. That’s something that we talked about last week, and we will be beefing up our debt recovery unit.
“At the moment we just have two debt recovery officers, and with them we managed to collect a record-breaking collection for the last financial year, $3.7m.”
He said there are plans to engage another five officers – one officer per ward – in hopes of collecting double the amount in this financial year.
Fines fail to stop dumping
Adding to the cost is the problem of illegal dumping. Hotspots like the junction of Nasinu Road and Clifton Road have become notorious.
He said the current fine of $40 for individuals and $2,000 for companies was not enough to dissuade illegal dumpers.
“Waste has become a national crisis.
“We’ve fined two offenders so far — $40 for individuals.
“We are asking the Ministry of Environment to please come on board and create rules that will be a deterrent to illegal dumpers, because at the moment, the illegal dumpers would rather pay the $40 fine than the $300 or $400 cartage to Naboro.”
However, to help the council address this issue, CCTV cameras will be installed at key locations while the relevant authorities work on introducing harsher penalties.
“These fines need to be a deterrent. Right now, they’re not.”
Growth adds to the strain
The waste challenge is set against a backdrop of rapid growth as rural to urban migration sees people moving into Nasinu at an “unprecedented rate” for jobs and housing.
The council plans to expand its boundaries to include new subdivisions such as Tacirua East, Nadawa, Veikoba, and Nepani.
“All this will require proper infrastructure so that we can provide essential services.
“We’ll need more trucks and more hands on the ground.”
Beyond waste, the town’s aging infrastructure, some untouched for over 50 years, is failing.
“We have water pipes and sewer lines that burst almost every week. We have areas still not connected to the sewer network, and footpaths that haven’t been maintained in decades.
“The bulk of Fiji’s workers live here, so we need infrastructure that reflects that reality.”
The missing piece for city status
Despite its challenges, he said Nasinu has two of the three components needed to become a city — infrastructure and population.
What it lacks is a strong local economy.
“Nasinu has been looking forward to trying to boost the local economy. We have everything to become a city, except the local economy.
“We have the infrastructure, we have the population, but we don’t have the local economy
“For us to become a city, we need to create jobs and keep spending locally.”
To that end, the council is welcoming new investors.
This week, the groundbreaking for the Koro Development project at Lyndhurst Limited and Katalyst Fiji Group marked a milestone for Nasinu Town.
Expected to employ 15,000 people, Mr Magnus said it could lift thousands of families out of informal settlements.
Other projects — the ambitious multibillion dollar Emerald Bay project, the redevelopment of Valelevu ground, and a 100-bed hospital — are also in the pipeline.
“They’ve come because of the stability of the government and the growing economy.
“These will provide employment and strengthen the local economy.”
Cleaning up crime
The waste crisis is also linked to safety concerns.
Rubbish collection crews have found drug paraphernalia in dumping sites, leading to closer cooperation with police.
Through an inter-agency collaboration, the council, the Fiji Police Force, and other government departments share data and strategies.
“Over the last 20 years, Nasinu was a red zone
“Now, with our engagement in the community, we’ve seen Nasinu come from red to green.”
The council supports police by providing transportation and resources, and he said this relationship is vital to keeping the community safe.
A vision for 2030
Mr Magnus believes that, if the waste crisis is brought under control, Nasinu’s infrastructure is renewed, and its economy strengthened, its bid for city status could be achieved by the end of the decade.
“The Prime Minister has projected a 15 per cent GDP boost in two years, and growth is coming in at an unprecedented rate.
“What does this mean for the council? It means that we need to boost our capacity in terms of service delivery.”
For now, he said the war on waste is at the front line of Nasinu’s transformation, and winning it will take a collective effort.
“Waste management is the responsibility of everyone, not only the Government, not only the town council, but it’s everyone’s duty to see that we manage our waste, and we can only ask the residents of Nasinu to come on board and participate in waste separation and composting to minimise overall waste output.
“We want Nasinu to be a clean, safe, and conducive area for families today — and for generations to come.”