The vanua o Ra has offered to host the proposed $1.4 billion Waste to Energy power plant as developers face growing opposition to a planned site at Naikorokoro Point in Saweni, Vuda. Tui Nalawa Ratu Epeli Niudamu said this week the Ra chiefly unit is open to talks with The Next Generation (TNG) Fiji about relocating the controversial project, signalling a new potential venue as public pushback intensifies.
“If there is a lot of opposition to the current site, then the vanua o Ra is willing to sit down with the developers to talk about the possibility of moving the project to Ra,” Ratu Epeli told reporters. His intervention follows mounting criticism from local and international residents, business owners, foreign dignitaries and some government officials — including Tourism Minister Viliame Gavoka — over the choice of Naikorokoro Point.
The dispute has exposed a sharp split among resource owners in the Vuda district. Some landowners in Viseisei Village have endorsed the initiative, while neighbouring Lauwaki Village has vehemently opposed any discussion tied to the plant’s proposed location. That division has made resource-owner consent a focal point in the public consultations that began earlier this year: the first round of talks was held in January.
Support for the project has also been voiced by figures such as Taukei Nakelo Josaia Natakele and Ratu Meli Tora Tavaiqia. Ratu Meli told the initial consultations that change was inevitable and urged his people to consider the economic benefits. “This place has been left idle like this for donkey’s years. Investors have come in and gone. My people are still here (living) under the poverty line. This is an opportunity with all the benefits … and if I do not support the idea, something must be wrong with me,” he said.
Opponents have organised formally. Tokatoka o Wadigi headman Apimeleki Nasalo led a delegation to deliver a petition of opposition to the Prime Minister’s office this week, saying signatories were concerned about the plant’s proximity to planned tourism developments in the area. Those concerns, echoed by tour operators and Tourism Minister Gavoka, centre on potential impacts to coastal tourism assets and the social licence for such a large industrial project near resort and visitor nodes.
Offering Ra as an alternative site is the latest turn in a dispute that could reshape the project’s timeline and siting decisions. TNG now faces the task of engaging with a broader set of resource owners and provincial leaders if it is to secure free, prior and informed consent for any location. For Ra, the proposal presents both an opportunity and a challenge: customary leaders have signalled willingness to discuss development, while any relocation would still require detailed consultations and agreement among landowning units.
The story remains fluid. Developers, government agencies and the various landowning groups have not yet announced a timetable for resumed talks or whether TNG has accepted Ratu Epeli’s invitation. The move by Ra chiefs, and the formal petition presented to the Prime Minister’s office, mark the latest efforts by both supporters and opponents to shape where — and whether — Fiji’s proposed waste-to-energy facility will be built.
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