THE Next Generation (TNG) Fiji will fight for its proposed $1.4 billion energy-from-waste (EfW) plant and deep-water port facility at Vuda Point near Lautoka citing it is a “worthwhile fight”.
With a strong emphasis on the importance of the project to Fiji, Ratu Qativi Robert Cromb (Rob Cromb), TNG Fiji co-founder and one of the primary partners, said this project was an important one for Fiji, and born out of a “real passion” to address an issue that was a growing problem in the country.
“This is a worthwhile fight from a personal level, so I will respectfully do the most I can to put the project forward to the people that are concerned, to the people, to the Government, because it is worthwhile,” Mr Cromb said in an interview with The Fiji Times.
During a tense public consultation meeting in Viseisei Village, Vuda last month, Mr Cromb had responded to fierce community pushback regarding the project’s supposed impact on future generation saying they would walk away if the proposal was not approved and added that walking away would not hurt them financially but it would cost the country ultimately.
Asked if he and his Australian partner Ian Malouf would walk away if it came to that, he said if the Government and the people did not want the project and they had done everything they could, “Ian and I will walk away”.
However, he said that did not mean he would walk away from Fiji because “we still need to do something about our landfill issue”.
“Someone needs to find a solution. Walking away from this project, yes. Walking away from finding a solution that’s going to help Fiji, I’ll probably try and find some way of doing it.
“I really think you’ve got two people that are going to take this project very seriously with the right interest. I’m Fijian so I’m very passionate about the right thing being done for our country,” he said, and also cited Mr Malouf’s expertise, intelligence and know-how to get this project done properly.
“I do think this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Fiji. If it gets knocked back, so be it.
“It is what it is but we are going to do our best to fight for it because the people are worth fighting for.”
Mr Cromb said they would spend whatever money it took to obtain the right information, the right technology and the right solution for Fiji’s waste and energy problem.
“We will fight for it. But we don’t control the Government, we don’t control the people in Vuda, we can’t speak for them. All we can do is put our best foot forward.”
TNG Fiji’s proposed EfW plant aims to burn up to 900,000 tonnes of municipal waste annually to generate 80 megawatts of baseload power, with projections to supply 45 per cent of Fiji’s national energy grid while significantly reducing the country’s overflowing landfills and reliance on expensive diesel.
