The recent letter by Simon Hazelman from Savusavu questioning Goundar Shipping why it is jumping on the Natovi-Nabouwalu route while Patterson Brothers is already there is missing the point.
And that is “development”.
That might be so, that Patterson Brothers is there but there is no space for a monopoly in a country, except for the government of the day to print money, if it has a democratically controlled system.
Goundar Shipping sees the chance to contribute to growth and at the same time make money.
We should not grudge about the buying price or standard of the ship or who was pulling strings.
The standard for ferries in Fiji was set way too high for the local market.
Who will be paying the fares for a ship less than 20 years, if Fiji could finance one like that in the first place?
It was good that change was made and it will do good in the coming years.
Goundar Shipping smells the change – constantly increasing capacity.
The road that “touches lives”, the newly constructed Nabouwalu-Dreketi highway will open up development and create opportunities to bring growth. With the “Look North Policy” it will all work out.
It just needs time, good supervisors and money to carry on.
The road was the biggest stumbling block and has been taken care of by our friends from China.
Thanks to the Chinese Foreign Development Department for building such an important infrastructure project to move the way forward.
Nabouwalu will soon not be able handle all the ferry traffic and one can expect delays.
There will be bottlenecks, and from both sides one has to go through.
But more ferries there will improve that situation for transporting of goods and passengers.
Patterson Brothers is well organised, offering bus/ferry/ bus services between Suva, Labasa and beautiful Savusavu.
There is not that much space for trucks on their ferries and demand will grow.
There is still that old jetty at Ellington Wharf. That would be worth improving a little too so Patterson Brothers can expand that way as well – has been their domain for years.
The Lomaiviti Princess III might be too big for that anyway.
Seaqaqa will soon be a town and people will follow opportunities. There is little industrial production around but farming will be a great opportunity.
Most people are farmers there, the backbone of that area.
Viti Levu needs a variety of good agricultural products to curve the food import bill downwards.
Better even, export.
Same time FRA is improving the gravel road from Nabouwalu eastwards and also from Nabalebale westwards.
Soon they will meet and another line of transport has improved.
Power will be the next issue.
Either FEA will go on the way of burning fossils like in Savusavu and stringing on wires and wait for money or get a hydro plant built with aid. Even better: the rules get relaxed a little here too.
I hear the Japanese Government funded a survey for another hydro dam in the Wailevu/Wainunu districts and two sites have been located. I believe FEA is mulling over this.
But it doesn’t have to be them to get this built. Again, a great opportunity also for the communities there to come together to draft a plan to finance the management of hydro, solar and wind power farms.
They can form their own power production facility, hook up customers and collect some contribution towards management and even enlargement. Business it’s called.
Utilising nature’s natural power sources to make electricity will greatly slow down climate change in Fiji.
Funds for that have been improved at the last climate change conference in Paris.
The local people can train for jobs such as mechanics, drivers, accountants, become engineers in each subject and managers running that business, etc.
The drift to the urban centres on Viti Levu, mainly Suva must be slowed North Policy is the way to it.
