The Government has stepped up its informal settlement upgrading drive, increasing funding and reviewing the legal framework to speed provision of secure tenure and basic services, Housing and Local Government Minister Maciu Nalumisa told Parliament on Tuesday. Nalumisa said the ministry had made “significant progress” over the past three years in advancing upgrades across the Central, Eastern and Northern divisions and pledged his office would accelerate work to move more families into formal tenure and improved living conditions.
Pointing to slow implementation under the previous administration, Nalumisa said only three settlements had been fully completed despite leases being secured for 48 areas under the earlier informal settlement upgrading programme. He named the three finished projects as Cuvu, Ledrusasa and Waidamudamu, and said the current Coalition Government has increased efforts and resources to translate secured leases into completed upgrades for more communities.
Budget allocations for the Informal Settlement Upgrading Programme have risen steadily since the Coalition Government took office, Nalumisa told MPs. The ministry allocated $10 million in the 2023–2024 financial year, $13.4 million in 2024–2025 and $14.6 million for 2025–2026. The minister framed the increases as essential to “sustain progress” and to boost the pace of on‑the‑ground works required to provide land tenure and basic services to long‑standing informal settlements.
Nalumisa also disclosed that a number of projects are either underway or planned across the country, although he did not provide a detailed project list or completion timelines in his parliamentary remarks. Alongside the programme rollout, the ministry is conducting a review of the Development of Informal Settlements Act 2022 to address what he described as “emerging implementation challenges” and to strengthen the legal and policy framework that guides settlement upgrading.
The minister’s update comes amid longstanding concerns about the scale and complexity of informal settlement issues in Fiji. Previous reporting has highlighted that there are more than 250 informal settlements spread across state, iTaukei and freehold lands, and has identified bottlenecks including gaps in leadership, limited funding, and resistance from some communities when resettlement is proposed. The iTaukei Land Trust Board and other agencies have issued development leases and relocation options in past years, but progress on completing resettlements has been uneven.
Nalumisa’s statement represents the latest government effort to address those obstacles through both increased financing and legislative reform. Observers and community leaders will be watching whether the additional allocations and the planned review of the 2022 Act produce faster, measurable results—concrete upgrades, clearer tenure arrangements and improved access to water, sanitation and other basic services—for communities that have lived for decades without formal ownership or reliable services.
The ministry will likely face continued scrutiny over how budget increases are translated into completed sites and whether the legal changes proposed in the Act review ease implementation challenges flagged by agencies and residents. For now, Nalumisa’s address signals a renewed push by the Coalition Government to turn secured leases and policy commitments into finished housing upgrades.
Leave a comment