Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade, Manoa Kamikamica

Fiji’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade, Manoa Kamikamica, reveals their plan to address investment bottlenecks.

He adds currently, there is a $2 billion potential in investment-ready proposals, which could greatly boost the economy if unlocked.

Kamikamica also notes improvements in environmental impact assessments, with the backlog reduced from hundreds to fewer than 20.

He adds plans are underway to digitize and simplify building permit approvals by 2025, which should enhance the ease of doing business and improve service levels for the private sector.

“Right now, it has to physically go from each agency to each agency. If documents go missing, documents are incomplete, and all these kinds of issues come up. People go missing as well. If we can resolve that, by the end of 2025, we will have sorted the building permit approvals.”

Kamikamica says the government is also tackling delays in work permit processing through a dedicated committee, aiming to streamline recruitment by the end of the year.