[Source: Parliament of the Republic of Fiji/Facebook]

The Ministry of Lands and Mineral Resources has gone fully digital — ditching paper-based approvals and slashing turnaround times from nearly a week to just 24 hours.

Permanent Secretary Paula Cirikiyasawa told the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Accounts that this is part of the ministry’s drive to modernize its operations and improve accountability through digital systems.

“The ministry was fortunate to get a substantive fund, more than a million, on the assumption that it will undertake the required build-up on its IT infrastructure. Unfortunately, COVID came in and that money was redeployed. But having said that, we are here now.”

Cirikiyasawa says the change has “revolutionized” the ministry’s work, with all internal submissions, staff appointments and Cabinet papers now processed online through a platform called Sydney Flow, developed with support from Vodafone Fiji.

He says he was able to approve official submissions remotely while attending a UN meeting in China, and that the Minister for Lands also provides concurrence online.

He further revealed that the ministry has officially stopped using the blue miniature forms, a long-standing paper-based process used for years.

He says the move is part of a broader digital transformation journey, after years of working with systems that were outdated and inefficient.

“The previous land lease system was not serving its purpose. It had become outdated, and we needed to modernize to match current realities”

Meanwhile, Senior System Analyst Programmer Rocky Gucake confirmed that the ministry is replacing its Crown Land Lease System, last upgraded in 2007, when it moved from an old DOS platform to Oracle 9.2.

The transformation is being led entirely by local staff within the ministry, without external consultants, and the ministry’s move to digital systems has already improved staff morale, accountability and productivity.

Stream the best of Fiji on VITI+. Anytime. Anywhere.