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NAVUA RIVER GRAVEL SCAM: FLP leader questions why no action has been taken to sort out environmental impact created by gravel extraction

19/8/2017

2 Comments

 

“This is an extremely serious environmental issue and I cannot see why the authorities have been dragging their feet on it for three years. Not only the livelihood but the security of these villagers is in question and yet nothing has been done to regulate extraction works on the river...
“Our Prime Minister is travelling the globe preaching climate change and sustainable development taking account of the need to protect the environment yet here at home, his government is allowing commercial environmental exploitation which is endangering the lives and livelihoods of villagers”
FLP leader Mahendra Chaudhry

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Navua River gravel #scam

Labour Leader Mahendra Chaudhry has questioned why no action has been taken in the past three years to address issues of environmental impact created by gravel extraction works on the Navua River.

Mr Chaudhry is reacting to a front page report in the Fiji Times today (18/8) that indiscriminate gravel extraction from sections of the river have imperiled the food sources, livelihood and mode of transportation for some 1000 villagers as well as tourism activities that used to be based on the Navua River.

“This is an extremely serious environmental issue and I cannot see why the authorities have been dragging their feet on it for three years. Not only the livelihood but the security of these villagers is in question and yet nothing has been done to regulate extraction works on the river,” Mr Chaudhry said.

“Our Prime Minister is travelling the globe preaching climate change and sustainable development taking account of the need to protect the environment yet here at home, his government is allowing commercial environmental exploitation which is endangering the lives and livelihoods of villagers,” he said.

“We do not accept the comment from Acting Permanent Secretary for Lands and Mineral Resources, Malakai Nalawa that the companies extracting gravel had valid licences.

“What kind of Environment Impact Assessment was carried out when over three years the Navua River has become shallower by about two metres ( according to the village headman) exposing gravel and big rocks, disturbing the river’s ecosystem and endangering fish stock as well as boating activities in the river? he asked.
Mr Chaudhry has called for an immediate suspension of all extraction works on the river to allow for a proper environmental impact study to verify the concerns of the villagers affected by it.

“In fact, all extraction should be stopped in the future to allow the river to regain its natural flow and ecosystem. Further extraction works should only be allowed after credible EIAs have been undertaken and it must be monitored to ensure sustainable extraction,” he said.

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2 Comments
Rajend Naidu
19/8/2017 09:29:04 am

The villagers impacted by the commercial exploitation of the river gravel have had to live with the ensuing problems for three years. Has an environmental group or civil society organisation taken up their plight ?
If not, why not?
Do the ordinary villagers matter in the strindent march of
" development "?

Reply
Rajend Naidu
23/8/2017 12:53:45 am

Editor,
Unfettered capitalist development
Poses a problem for citizens in the countryside, as the Navua River gravel extraction case demonstrates, and it poses a problem for citizens in the cities, as the " rezoning" of Shirley Park in Lautoka showed.
Debbie Mue gives us another example from Suva Point in the capital city.
She writes " ... it is a very sorry state of affairs environmentally and socially speaking when the city impinges on the life of the suburbs, with big companies in pursuit of business expansion, showing no regard for the rights of citizens to a peaceful, safe, and pollution free existence in one's own place of residence" ( Fiji Times 23/08/17 ).
Debbie's lament is a universal one: the rampant advance of capitalist development and the consequential retreat of community.
What do the big companies have that ordinary citizens do not have ?
It's the capacity to buy political influence.
The impingement that Debbie laments has a political context.
Sincerely,
Rajend Naidu

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