Lusiana Divokitira 
[Photo: FILE]
Minister for Commerce and Business Development Manoa Kamikamica has clarified that Google is not building a major data centre at Natadola.
Kamikamica says the facility is instead a data operations support centre, which will handle the landing and monitoring of cables while providing some data storage capacity.
He says a conventional data centre will require massive amounts of electricity and water, with construction costs potentially reaching one to two billion US dollars.
“So that’s not what’s being built in Natadola. What’s being built is just a centre to allow the cables to land and be monitored. There will be some storage space for those who would like to have some storage. But it’s certainly not an extensive data centre as is being projected.”
Kamikamica says the facility is expected to be powered by solar energy, with discussions ongoing alongside the iTaukei Land Trust Board and the Fiji National Provident Fund.
He says the solar component is expected to have a capacity of about five megawatts.
Kamikamica has also assured Fijians that if a major data centre is considered in the future, water and electricity supply issues would need to be addressed beforehand.
