NFP: Fiji government wooed by ambitious developers

Transcript

There's been little surprise in Fiji to news that the developer of the country's first casino has sold its stake to another party.

The government announced late in 2011 that One Hundred Sands would build the casino, in partnership with a Native American tribe, however construction hasn't started.

Delays and a lack of information led to the Snoqualmie Tribe pulling out of the deal and tribal chairwoman Carolyn Lubenau says One Hundred Sands has recently sold its interest in the casino to someone else.

The National Federation Party leader, Professor Biman Prasad, told Bridget Tunnicliffe the government has been easily wooed by ambitious developers.

BIMAN PRASAD: The broader problem that we've had in the last seven and a half years under this regime, they have put out to the public a lot of pies in the sky. But real foreign investment in the country has remained low, investor confidence has been a serious issue. And a lot of this has come through government's own deliberate policies you know decrees which do not provide confidence and inconsistency in policy so I'm not surprised, I mean I don't have the details of this casino company but obviously you know right from the start you know it appeared to be something which was wishful thinking on the part of this government that suddenly investors from outside the country will come in with millions of dollars and undertake you know some serious investment so you know it's part of the broader problem that we have.

BRIDGET TUNNICLIFFE: I was told today that the developer One Hundred Sands has sold its stake in the casino to another party, are you aware of this at all?

BP: No I haven't seen the details of that but I wouldn't be surprised with the difficulties surrounding this particular project which was touted as one that would bring a lot of confidence and was an example of foreign investment in the country so you know all of that is falling flat right now it appears to me.

BT: And if someone does sell their stake to another party is that a bad sign, does that add to concerns that it's just not a robust investment?

BP: Obviously and this is what we've been saying, I was saying when I was an academic but as a leader of a political party you know we are saying that there's been serious cause for concern with respect to investor confidence in this country over the last seven and a half years.

BT: All the way along the developer has always insisted that despite the delays, that this casino was going ahead and that they had the funding. With the news that is sounds like One Hundred Sands has sold its stake to another party do you feel like the developer has really misled the public during the last couple of years?

BP: Yeah well I mean it must have been and it also shows the lack of competence on the part of the government in Fiji to get carried away by these so-called investors. And I think there's been a number of instances where investors have come up and you know there's big media coverage and the government is seen celebrating you know the proposals and the intentions of investors rather than the actual implementation. There's a huge difference between the investment proposals and those which have been registered and the actual implementation and the realisation of those and I think maybe this is another example of that.

The government and developer have so far not responded to requests for information.