Ministry of Local Government and Housing Development Permanent Secretary Joshua Wycliffe

An $8.4 million informal settlement project has been earmarked by the Ministry of Local Government and Housing Development over the next four years.

This was revealed by the Permanent Secretary Joshua Wycliffe during a topic of discussion on building cities of tomorrow at the 20th Attorney General’s Conference.

Wycliffe says they will partner with the UN Habitat on these squatter settlement projects.

“And the participatory principle is literally taken for its meaning in this project. This is called the Adaptation Fund – a mechanism under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and it agrees to fund this initiative at a cost of $8.4 million. At the core of this project there are 16 informal settlement settlements selected across Nadi, Lami, Lautoka and Sigatoka.”

He says following TC Winston, UN Habitat and the Ministries of Climate Change and Economy jointly developed a proposal which was successfully accepted with the aim to build the resilience of some of the most vulnerable informal settlements within Fiji.

Wycliffe says over the next four years the communities will be supported to prioritize their resilience projects such as drainage, access roads, bridges and flood protection.

He adds the most vulnerable community members – children, elderly and people with disabilities – in many cases women, are all specifically supported on this project.