Vorovoro villagers in Tailevu North are claiming that works being done by the Gold Rock Investment Limited is destroying their livelihood.

Vorovoro villager, Leone Mataika says the Vatudele River, once known as one of the major rivers in Tailevu North, is now all dried up due to the extraction works done so far by the crushing company.

Mataika says they have been severely affected ever since the extraction works began.

“As you can see, there is no water in the river, we have continuous erosion on the river banks, and they have destroyed the trees. For us villagers, it’s really hard to cross the river now especially for the students. We can’t even move the animals to the other side of the river.”

Gold Rock Investment Limited Chief Operating Officer Josefa Gavoka says that they are only working within the 3km boundary assigned to them and are ensuring that they are compliant with the Environment Act.

“We had negotiations in Vorovoro and Dawasamu, we work closely with the committee and there were consultations with the committee on the effects of the development so under EIA it mitigates the risks, this kind of risks, the river, we are just using 3km stretch of the river.”

Gavoka says there is also a miscommunication within the village where only one mataqali made the agreement with Gold Rock.

He adds they also have a committee that links the company with the landowners also help in addressing such issues.

The company, Gold Rock Investment Limited is the largest crushing plant in Fiji which supplies crushed stones to major road contractors around the country.

It’s situated on a 10-acre land which belongs to the mataqali Naboro in the village of Delakado in Tailevu North.