The Environment Tribunal will today hear the appeal by The Next Generation Fiji against the decision by the Department of Environment to refuse its proposed Vuda power plant project.
Ministry of Environment permanent secretary Dr Sivendra Michael said the ministry has received TNG’s appeal through their lawyers.
“We received their appeal by their lawyers. We have provided our responses to their claims to our legal counsel (the office of the Solicitor General), who will then file this to the Environment tribunal,” said Dr Michael.
The Tribunal hearing begins today.
The permanent secretary added the ministry’s stand has not changed since rejecting TNG’s application in June.
“We remain firm that our decision was grounded on facts.”
In its assessment, the Department concluded that the report submitted by The Next Generation Holdings (Fiji) Pte Limited failed to provide sufficient information, evidence and certainty to justify approval of a project of such scale and complexity.
The decision identified at least 18 major areas where concerns remained unresolved.
