GOVERNMENT is sitting on the Nadi Flood Alleviation Project with nothing happening on the ground, claims Nadi businessman Anil Gounder.
He made the claim during the National Budget consultation in Nadi last week.
Mr Gounder said his property, built in Nadi Town in 2009, had been heavily affected over the years by flooding.
“What is happening?” Mr Gounder queried.
“We can’t be sitting down idle seeing our properties being affected.
“We can’t just sustain loses, and we don’t have that much money to sustain loses.”
He said announcements had been made in the media of a $400 million funding to fix the issue but claimed nothing was physically happening on the ground.
“The Government is sitting on that project. We are entrepreneurs, we know what money talks and what money does.
“Please can we have something complete on the ground, we are suffering with time extended because of this Nadi Flood Alleviation Project.”
Meanwhile, Nadi Chamber of Commerce & Industry president Lawrence Kumar told this newspaper there was a need for a taskforce for this urgent project.
“I’m urging the Australian High Commission and Fiji Government to create a taskforce around it,” Mr Kumar said.
“To create a taskforce and involve various stakeholders in that taskforce in order to ensure that all the stakeholders are well informed.
“At (the) Nadi Chamber of Commerce, we are a key stakeholder in it because our businesses always get affected by flooding.
“So we need to be part of that taskforce to ensure that we are well informed on it.”
In March this year, Government launched a multi-million dollar initiative to tackle Nadi’s vulnerability to devastating floods.
The Fiji Climate Adaptation Program, supported by a $35m investment from the Australian Government between 2026 and 2029, was officially unveiled at the Fiji Culture Village in Nadi.
The program will focus on the Nadi River catchment to pilot innovative approaches, including nature-based solutions and upstream revegetation, which are expected to be expanded to other flood-prone areas in the future.
