The Fiji Prime Minister has thrown his government’s support behind a controversial waste-to-energy project at Vuda Point in the country’s Western Division despite “a delay”.

The multi-million-dollar “Fiji Energy from Waste Project”, backed by Australian billionaire Ian Malouf and Fiji-born businessman Robert Cromb’s company The Next Generation (TNG) Fiji, has been making headlines across local and Australian media.

The proposed development in the Vuda-Saweni area between Nadi International Airport and Lautoka city has sparked a major backlash from concerned Fijians about its potential to damage the environment at the mainstream tourist hotspot.

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The project is reported to plan to burn up to 900,000 tonnes of waste a year, far exceeding Fiji’s local waste production, requiring the import of waste from across the South Pacific.

On Friday, Fiji’s Environment Ministry announced that the waste incinerator project has moved into the technical review stage.

The ministry also confirmed that it had received 875 written submissions during the public viewing period of the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) review process, as well as, almost 9000 signatures — on and offline — opposing the project.

Environment Ministry Permanent Secretary Dr Sivendra Michael said no decision had been made to date.

“The decision can only be issued following the completion of the full technical and regulatory review.”

‘Remains committed’
However, Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka said his government “remains committed to progressing the project”, according to a report by the state broadcaster.

“There has been a delay in discussions,” Rabuka told a vernacular radio programme,” adding that “as a government, we support the project”.

“If you look at it, a waste-to-energy plant can help supply electricity to more communities, while allowing the government to redirect resources to areas that still need power,” he was quoted as saying by FBC News.

In a report on April 1, The Australian described the proposal as: “Three years after losing the battle to build a waste-to-energy incinerator in western Sydney, Australian Dial-a-Dump billionaire Ian Malouf is pushing to build one on Fiji’s prized west coast that would burn up to 700,000 tonnes of imported garbage.

“Mr Malouf said his proposal had the backing of Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka and his cabinet, and that ‘just a few selfish people don’t want it in their backyard’,” The Australian reported.

Rabuka’s Environment Minister Lynda Tabuya said at the time that the claims in The Australian report were “not accurate” and that cabinet had not approved the project, according to an FBC News report.

A ‘toxic’ project
Fiji’s Ambassador to the United Nations Filipo Tarakinikini, in a social media post on 20 April 20, described the project as “a toxic one”.

“If this project could not meet Australia’s environmental and health standards — and was rejected after seven years of scrutiny by one of the most sophisticated planning systems in the world — why should Fiji, with far less regulatory infrastructure, accept it?,” he wrote.

“Fiji must not become the Pacific’s ashtray,” he said.

The Environment Ministry said the public should “respect the process” and allow it “the space to complete its work in accordance with the law”.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.