AUSTRALIA-based senior international economists said Fiji need to free up land and property to unleash the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector.
ANZ Group international economist Dr Kishti Sen, senior economist Catherine Birch and senior international economist Tom Kenny said Fiji was promoting itself as an attractive location for large multinationals to set up operational functions.
“In other words, Fiji wants to upscale its business process outsourcing (BPO) industry – BPO hubs or precincts with multiple towers and shared facilities including retail, food, accommodation, medical and parking,” the economists said.
“However, because of a scarcity of available privately-owned land in and around central business districts, Fiji has not yet been able to build a one-stop technology park for the BPO sector to take off.
This is where asset recycling could work in the near term in the land sector.”
The economists said the government had significant premium land property holdings in urban centres.
They said the sale of some of those assets to BPO developers could free up money for the government to finance an infrastructure project or do major maintenance works on existing infrastructure.
“Fiji’s government is canvassing the possibility of part privatising its water utilities and privatising its electricity utilities. So water and electricity are other candidates for potential privatisation under the asset recycling approach.”
NOTE: This article was first published in the print edition of the Fiji Times dated FEBRUARY 26, 2025.
