A NUMBER of landowning units say they were neither consulted nor compensated for the raising of the Wainisavulevu weir by Energy Fiji Ltd (EFL).
EFL chief executive officer Hasmukh Patel, when asked which landowners were consulted and compensated, said it was a private matter between the landowners, EFL and the iTaukei Land Trust Board.
“In the case of the raising of the Wainisavulevu weir, the landowners were fully compensated for the use of their land and resources as per a private commercial arrangement with EFL,” Mr Patel wrote in his letter addressed to The Fiji Times editor Fred Wesley.
Satellite images show the Wainisavulevu creek, which leads to the Gaganaura and Vuwa waterfalls and runs down to Muaira, has dried up.
The Wainisavulevu creek eventually joins the Wainimala river.
The creek also acts as a border for several landowning units that include the mataqali Nakurukuruvakatini, Nasaunokonoko, Nakorolevu, Naiyalasa and Nadina.
Satellite images also show that while the weir is situated on land belonging to the mataqali Nakorolo, the impact of raising the weir is also felt by the mataqali Lawaki and mataqali Rovadrau. Erami Namudu and Jone Ketenimarama of the landowning unit Nakurukuruvakatini, said they were never consulted, nor received any money.
