LACK of civic pride, conference facilities, low tourism numbers and flooding caused by upstream logging are some of the major challenges faced by the Lautoka City Council.
Speaking at the 2012 fourth quarter Local Government consultative forum last week, council CEO Jone Nakauvadra said the lack of civic pride in Lautoka contributed to the citizens' total disregard of littering laws and the indiscriminate manner in which garbage was being dumped in waterways around the Sugar City.
"Instead of dumping rubbish in bins or preparing it for collection on the allocated days, we have people dumping rubbish in drains and this contributes to flooding," Mr Nakauvadra said.
"Everywhere we've put up notices, people dump rubbish around the erected notice."
Mr Nakauvadra said the council was aware that ad hoc logging upstream of waterways contributed to heavy silting and led to flooding during periods of heavy rainfall.
He also informed municipal heads at the forum that despite being located close to the country's biggest international gateway, Nadi Airport, Lautoka failed to attract tourists.