Fiji's cities and towns have rejected a government order to write off millions of dollars owed in municipal rates by the Native Lands Trust Board.
The order was issued last month in the form of a directive from the minister for local government, Mataiasi Ragigia.
The minister says his directive is valid because the NLTB properties are lying idle and not being serviced by councils.
The NLTB owes more than one million US dollars to the small town of Lami alone.
The Fiji Local Government Association has unanimously rejected the minister's directive, saying people are living on the land which is serviced by local councils.
The minister says he does not know how the association can reject his directive.
But the association's president and Suva mayor, Chandu Umaria, says the sums involved are huge and councils need the money to fund development.
