THE Nasinu Town Council has opposed plans to build a replacement for the Colonial War Memorial Hospital on the Valelevu grounds, warning that a major hospital could worsen traffic congestion and create other problems for the municipality.
Council special administrator Jone Tuiono said this on Tuesday while giving submissions to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Social Affairs on the council’s 2018 annual report.
He said the council had raised concerns over the proposed development, which was currently being considered by a technical committee engaged by the Australian government.
“There is a plan by the Government of the day to build a hospital, to replace CWM Hospital,” Mr Tuiono said.
“That’s currently with the technical committee that is hired by the Australian government.
“But from the Nasinu Town Council, we’ve been pushing against that.”
He said the council believed the location would not be beneficial to Nasinu, particularly because of the traffic and other issues associated with having a major hospital in the area.
Mr Tuiono said the Ministry of National Planning was expected to resubmit the matter to Cabinet, with the council hoping its concerns would be considered.
He said consultations with communities had also produced negative responses to the proposed hospital development.
Meanwhile, council acting chief financial officer Imran Khan told the committee that a feasibility study had been undertaken in 2018 for the development of Valelevu Grounds into a proposed sports stadium.
He said the study was carried out by Gondong Province, but the proposed stadium project did not proceed.
