The High Court in Suva yesterday dismissed the Director of Environment’s application for a complete halt to the construction of buildings one and two at level 1 of the Great Han International Princess Road Apartment until the appeal is heard.
Justice Vishwa Datt Sharma delivered his ruling on the Director of Environment and Attorney-General’s notice of motion and summons seeking a stay of execution of orders pending appeal, as well as the notice of appeal.
In his ruling, Justice Sharma noted that a stop-work order was already in place for buildings three and four on level two, and buildings five and six, as issued by the Suva City Council (SCC) and the Mineral Resources Department. Buildings one and two, meanwhile, were nearing completion.
Justice Sharma said the SCC granted Great Han International its building permit in 2017 and conducted several mandatory site inspections at each stage of construction on level one. Great Han International is represented by Feizal Younas Haniff of the Haniff Tuitoga law firm.
On September 12, 2023, the SCC issued only a Stop Work Notice (SWN) against Great Han International following a complaint by a group known as the Tamavua Action Group. The group claimed the project posed a risk to Tamavua-i-wai residents as no geotechnical survey had been conducted before construction.
However, in November 2024, the Environment Tribunal ruled in favour of Great Han International, allowing it to complete construction of buildings one and two only.
After considering the arguments and submissions, Justice Sharma said he was not satisfied that grounds had been established for a stay of execution of the November 2024 orders and accordingly dismissed the application in its entirety.
He questioned why the SCC issued the building permit in April 2017 if no geotechnical survey had been conducted.
The court has granted the appellants 14 days to appeal the Environment Tribunal’s ruling.
