Education

FNU relooks at Labasa campus project

June 17, 2022 12:33 pm

Doctor William May.

The Fiji National University is relooking at options to complete its Nayaca Campus in Labasa.

Construction on the $36m project began in 2018, but work stopped in March 2020 after FNU terminated the contractor due to unsatisfactory work.

While giving his submission on the 2020 Annual Report to the Standing Committee on Social Affairs, FNU Acting Vice-Chancellor, Doctor William May says the University Council met last weekend to look at ways to complete the project.

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Doctor May says this may include repurposing the current site to suit the strategy of the University moving forward.

“As well as align the building with the Look North Policy of the government and we are in consultation as well with the two ministries of education and economy and we want to ensure that our plans are run by the two ministries to fit in the wider vision of that the university need to align with for that building in the North.”

While responding to a question by Standing Committee member, Salote Radrodro on the reasons behind modifying the current plan, Doctor May says they need to respond to the current needs of TVET in particular and the other associated programs for the North.

Doctor May says they want to see if the current building is fit for purpose.

“That is the discussion we are having right now and how does that align with the current strategy of the university for 2021-2026. So this is where the discussion around completing the building for the sake of completion and not meeting the immediate needs and purpose that might have changed from the time the intention of building at that time to now could have changed and has changed as this is where we are aligning ourselves to the completion of the building.”

The Nayaca Campus project is 40 percent complete.

The overall project included a main building, car parks and walkways.