A divestment initiative launched by the Government has generated $3 million over four years. According to the first annual report from Assets Fiji Limited, which was established to oversee the divestment strategy from 2016 to 2019, the primary revenue source was rental income from land leases that were not essential to the operations of Fiji Ports Corporation and Fiji Ships and Heavy Industries Limited.
Assets Fiji was created in 2015 to facilitate the transfer of all land asset interests from Fiji Ports Corporation. The report indicates that only the port operations were divested under this plan, while land assets were kept separate from core business functions.
The company has been leasing back the necessary assets for port operations to both Fiji Ports Corporation and Fiji Ships and Heavy Industries Limited. A land title transfer and lease-back agreement was formalized on November 13, 2015, with a duration of 50 years.
Chairman Shaheen Ali, also the Permanent Secretary for Trade, noted that most tenants of Assets Fiji are located at the Rokobili Subdivision in Walu Bay. He reported that Assets Fiji achieved an accumulated net profit after tax of $3.39 million from 2016 to 2019. The company maintains a solid financial standing, with strategic properties valued at approximately $57.38 million, no external debts, and a liquidity ratio of 2.9 at the end of 2019. Currently, Assets Fiji holds 35 land titles near the Lautoka, Levuka, and Suva port regions.
Under the partial privatization of Fiji Ports Corporation—aiming to enhance, expand, and modernize Fiji’s port facilities—the Government’s divestment decision resulted in the establishment of a partnership among three entities: the Ministry of Public Enterprises controlling 41 percent, the Fiji National Provident Fund with 39 percent, and Sri Lanka’s Aitken Spence PLC holding the remaining 20 percent.
The transferred properties mainly include strategic seaport areas in Lautoka, Levuka, and Suva, consisting of both freehold and crown leaseholds. In 2018, during the sale of the former Government Printing and Stationery Department, the Government sanctioned the transfer of land and the building at Viria East Road, Vatuwaqa, to Assets Fiji to manage on its behalf. As a state landholder, Assets Fiji subleases the land from the Ministry of Lands.