Minister for Local Government, Premila Kumar has told senior government and Statutory Authority officials to give as much feedback as possible for the Master Planning Exercise Project for Suva, Nadi and Lautoka.
Kumar highlighted this in a Master Planning Workshop with the representatives from Singapore led by Singapore’s “Father of Urban Planning” ‑ Doctor Liu Thai Ker who is the Chairman of Morrow Architects and Planners.
She says the master plan is divided into six stages and they are up to stage two now.
Kumar says the current Planning Schemes for Suva, Lautoka and Nadi were prepared more than 30 years ago and there is an urgent need to review the schemes and policies which are outdated.
The Minister says the revision of the outdated planning schemes and investment in the master plans is the way forward to plan Fiji’s unplanned growth.
She says Fiji is fortunate to work with the experts that have transformed Singapore and the master plan would provide a road map for all future development decisions to guide, and coordinate the various government agencies in carrying out development works.
Kumar says the scope of work requires Singapore Cooperation Enterprise to deliver a Strategic Spatial Master Plan Study of Viti Levu and a Conceptual Master Plan of Greater Suva, Nadi and Lautoka.
She says the Strategic Spatial Master Plan will determine the location, size and boundary of the urbanized area for Viti Levu by examining the major transport connectivity within the mainland and to the surrounding outer Islands.
Kumar says the plan will also indicate the land use zones to guide development and the urbanized areas will be considered in tandem with the existing natural reserves and significant water bodies to ensure preservation and sustainable use.
Kumar says the next part of the study is to develop a Conceptual Master Plan of Greater Suva, Nadi and Lautoka where a more detailed approach shall be taken based on the Singapore experience with accumulated knowledge gained from planning in other parts of the world.
She says the Ministry of Local Government has recently seen an influx of applications for development within the urban centres and as a result of this they have seen haphazard use of land without any vision.
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