Bank executive says Qoliqoli legislation a smokescreen

[posted 28 Oct 2005, 13:00]

The legislation aimed at getting royalty to landowners for the use of the foreshore by resorts etc was just a smokescreen to satisfy a small group, a banker says.

Bob Lyons, managing director of ANZ Pacific said the legislation would have significant adverse impact on the tourism industry and would not solve Fiji’s problems.

Speaking at the Australia-Fiji Business Council meeting last week, said Fiji’s problems could only be solved through a more concerted drive for economic growth.

There were issues that Fiji had to resolve to move forward, among them structural inefficiencies and monopolies in the utilities sector such as telecommunications. .

“Investment approval and business startup processes remain unnecessarily complex and bureaucratic,” he charged.

At the same time visa and work permit processes were “opaque and daunting…only the persistent survive them”.

He urged government to move “beyond the talk” in terms of good governance. Among problems he also listed the lack of security for private property.