Representatives of investors in the controversial Great-han International Company Ltd apartment complex along Princess Rd in Tamavua have called for fairness in the handling of regulatory issues surrounding the investment, as intense pressure from the local community has forced the suspension of construction work at the site.
Speaking anonymously for fear of retribution, a company spokesperson said over $13 million have already been invested in the project, which is now on hold as new regulatory requirements emerge that previously were not brought to their attention.
“We feel that it’s a bit unfair in a way. We are here to invest and at the same time we want to work with people and we want to seek a solution rather than all the aggression and animosity we have been getting. There was nothing in 2017 when we started so it’s very surprising that now, we are starting to have issues and residents have started lodging complaints,” the spokesperson said.
Public pressure by the Tamavua Action Group, whose members are concerned residents living in the vicinity of the project, had led to a public consultation last week attended by representatives of the action group, the company and the Ministry of Local Government.
“We feel it’s a bit unfair that the public consultations have only addressed the concerns, but not consider the evidence that we’ve given during the public consultation,” the company spokesperson said.
“Approvals for this type of projects would come from the National Fire Authority, Minerals Resources Department, Town and Country Planning, Fiji Roads Authority, and the Department of Environment. All those applications were done and approvals were received prior to building. And a public awareness was created on the newspaper and television. So as an investor and developer, we are asking, why now? Nobody has given us any answers apart from petty reasons such as geo tech report, environment report and storm water issues.”
The Tamavua Action Group is currently calling for public support against the project through an online petition, with claims that an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) was not done, as is required by law.
“Given the scale of this development, and the risks associated with it, we are petitioning the Government to suspend work until a full EIA is undertaken. It is important that the EIA contain a comprehensive geotechnical engineering assessment that is in sufficient detail to assure the public that the geo hazard risks have been sufficiently analysed and addressed,” said the group in its online petition.
The developers said an EIA had been carried out for the initial development plan, which was for a two-storey building. They said controversy started when they decided to extend another storey upwards and turn it into a three-storey structure, for which they were told they would need another EIA.
“We were not told that we would need another EIA for the third storey when we applied for it, so this is where we’re at right now,” they said.
“We are prepared to work through this with the authorities and with the community. We understand Chinese developments tend to have a bad reputation, but not all Chinese developers are bad and we are one of those willing to go out there and talk about what we are doing and we have all the supporting documentations as proof.
“Despite this, there is very strong aggressive behaviour from this action group and the media that in some cases has turned into harassment, such as drones flying above taking pictures of the property and a cameraman outside taking photos of the property without our permission.”
The Great-han International is owned by a consortium of Chinese investors that calls itself the 9 China Group, which established an office in Fiji in 2013.
Its initial plans to complete the construction of 63 high end service apartments at the Princess Rd site by 2016 were delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The company is also developing a high end villa project near Denarau and employs 170 people.
