[ Source: Facebook ]

Fiji is attracting serious investor interest in waste-to-energy and infrastructure development; however, investment must operate within a clear and structured national planning and development system.

This, according to Dobui Tukana, a Tier 1 Engineer currently involved in major infrastructure projects, including an 80MW Waste-to-Energy facility developed on existing landfill infrastructure in the United Arab Emirates.

He says any Waste-to-Energy project must ensure landowner rights are protected at every stage and decisions are not predetermined before consultation.

Tukana also says feasibility should be completed before site fixation, and national interest is defined before project commitment.

He also says investment cannot bypass planning discipline; otherwise, it risks undermining both public trust and landowner confidence.

Tukana says another important factor for Fiji, landowner rights must begin before an environmental impact assessment is carried out and not after the fact.

He says Fiji should consider the United Kingdom planning practice and the UAE infrastructure governance models, where landowners and stakeholders are engaged at the concept stage, during feasibility and options analysis, and before site selection is finalised.

Tukana says once the EIA is initiated on a fixed site, it already implies that the technology is selected, scale is defined, and location is largely locked in.

He says at that point, consultation becomes reactive rather than genuinely participatory.

Tukana says for Fiji, this is critical – landowners must not only be consulted on how a project happens, but whether it should happen in that location at all.

He made the comments in a Facebook post where he stated a formal objection to the proposed Vuda Waste-to-Energy project by TNG.

Tukana says his objection is based on established civil engineering, environmental, and sustainable land use principles.

He says the Vuda proposal is not appropriate because it is located within a tourism-sensitive and culturally significant coastal corridor.

Tukana also says it represents irreversible long-term industrialisation of a heritage-adjacent landscape, conflicts with globally accepted brownfield-first development principles and bypasses sequential land use planning logic used in the UK, EU, UAE, and other Tier 1 jurisdictions.

Tukana says he does not oppose Fiji moving towards Waste-to-Energy projects; however, he says it should be supported as part of a long-term national waste management strategy.

He says the correct engineering and governance approach for Fiji is – starting with a 15–20MW proof-of-concept facility using Fiji-only waste streams (no imports), and locating the facility at existing landfill sites such as Vunato or Naboro.