The cost of maintenance at Fiji Pine Ltd’s power turbines in Drasa, Lautoka will be half a million.

This was confirmed by chairman of the Fiji Pine Group of Companies Rakuita Vakalalabure.

Mr Vakalalabure said the specific work would be carried out in Geelong in Melbourne, Australia.

“We can’t do it locally, it has to go offshore, and it cost us about half a million,” he said.

“At this stage we do not expect that cost to increase too much.

“But we hope the timeline can come down from 17 weeks to 13 or 14 weeks before we can commission it here back in Fiji.

“It is the winding of their turbines.”

Mr Vakalalabure said it was costly because of the duration of the work apart from the cost of repairs.

“If there is pine, we can meet the demand. “I think climatic contribution is a major restriction that we can’t control, we must go by the weather.

“So, we have to be seasonal in operations when the weather is good, we can expand and when it is not good we have to restrict ourselves.

“But the value of operations must be seriously considered, what we are doing in the rainy season must hold high value as well, together with what we do in the dry season when the weather is good.

“We hope the weather conditions always get better because we have no control.”