As owners of major resources — land, forests, fisheries and minerals — it was “tragic” that the indigenous people have largely remained poor and their resources largely undeveloped, says former prime minister Mahendra Chaudhry.
Speaking in Ba, he said the main reason was a lack of capital and expertise which had left their resources open to exploitation by unscrupulous developers.
Mr Chaudhry said it was time for the indigenous people to consider investments by the Ba Provincial Holdings Company Ltd.
“As an entity owned by the landowning units, the company is in an advantageous position to attract joint venture projects in the agriculture, tourism and commercial sectors, using land as equity in business,” he said.
“This approach must be seriously considered by landowners aspiring to enter the mainstream of the Fijian economy — an opportunity long denied to many of them because of how the system operates here.
“Consciously or unconsciously, we have permitted development to proceed on unequal or uneven terms — giving preference to those endowed with capital and expertise while neglecting or overlooking those who have the resources but lack capital and expertise.”
The audited accounts of the Ba Provincial Holdings Company Ltd as at December 31, 2019, showed net assets of $27.5 million, which were principally derived through a revaluation of investment properties from $9.5 million to $22.30 million in 2017.
The company’s major revenue resources were rental from investment properties and construction projects.
