INTERIM Fijian Affairs Minister Ratu Epeli Ganilau has expressed concern with the "extravagance" of landowners who collect $40m a year but rely on government for assistance to educate their children.
Speaking at the Native Lands Trust Board stakeholders workshop yesterday in Lami, Ratu Epeli said the ministry allocated $8million a year for scholarships.
He said the $40m landowners collected from rental was about the same as the combined budget for the entire Ministry of Fijian Affairs, Provincial Development and Multi-Ethnic Affairs.
"If we used the lease monies on scholarships, then we could have sent five times more or 15,000 Fijian students to the University of the South Pacific, Fiji School of Medicine, Fiji Institute of Technology and tertiary institutions locally and abroad.
"I am highlighting these cases because for the past 10 months my office has been inundated with requests from Fijian landowners for scholarship assistance for their children from the Fijian Affairs Board and support letters from my office to assist in withdrawal of their Fiji National Provident Fund for education assistance," he said.
"Now I am highlighting cases because the excuse is that rent is insufficient and the demand is that rent be reassessed so that we get a fair and higher return.
"Whilst I wholeheartedly agree that the rental formula needs to be reviewed and revised upwards to reflect a fair and just compensation for its usage, I maintain that this is not a sustainable solution if 'spendthrift and extravagance' will continue unaddressed. Therefore, as I see it, the problem is not so much the quantum or amount of rental but rather its management and usage. There is now an urgent need to change the consumption mindset to optimum utilisation such as savings, investments and adding value opportunities." Ratu Epeli said the NLTB could not continue to ignore this problem nor could it afford not to intervene, "for we will be failing in our duty, whether we want to or not we have to provide the direction and will require NLTB to improvise on its services delivery of its core businesses".
He said as part of addressing these challenges, the NLTB was creating a fully fledged department of landowners affairs as recommended in the Kurusiga Report. Ratu Epeli said the new department would be operational from January 2008 and would provide landowners with professional advice on how to manage their funds, investment opportunities, land use, awareness program, effective consultation and so on.
Ratu Epeli said the Kurusiga Report recommended that all land outside of the Agricultural Landlord and Tenants Act be valued at market rent, thus NLTB and landowners were free to negotiate rental with the interested tenant/investor.
He said the second aspect, which would have a profound bearing on the leasing of reserved land, was a valuation formula that recognised intangible values of land.