[File Photo]

Progress on establishing the new Fiji Pine Limited’s Navosa Station is well underway.

Mataqali Nakorosoi and Mataqali Matatini gave their consent to Fiji Pine in January to develop more than 14 hectares of dry and arid land.

This is a partnership between the company, the government and the Fiji Police to help revive the local economy.

It is also part of the Force’s efforts to eradicate drugs in Navosa where villages like Nasaucoko, Keyasi and their immediate neighbours will engage in planting and nurturing pine trees.

Newly-appointed Officer-in-Charge Josateki Ratatagia said the team was able to start with road markings to develop the areas marked for planting.

Ratatagia travelled on horseback in the Navosa highlands with several young men from both landowning units to identify the lease boundaries on which Fiji Pine will commence planting.

The Ministry of Forests will help construct a new road linking roads that have been inaccessible for some time.

Navosa will have a new station and three staff quarters, marking Fiji Pine Limited’s seventh station in Fiji.