National Development Plan public consultations in Vatoa, Lau
THE Government has been requested to avail savings and investment services to maritime islands in the Eastern Division. This was raised by the villagers of Vatoa in the Lau Group during the first ever National Development Plan public consultation to be held at their village on last week.
Vatoa Village Development Committee executive, Lemeki Biau, said while they appreciate the services by the Postal Agency that allows them to send and receive cash, there was a need for more banking options which would include banking and investment.
“While the shortage of cash reserve at the Post Office is a concern because it is limited to $2000 a month, we also feel that investment and savings should be made available to us, where we could save some of our earnings because if not, we will always be a step behind,” Mr Biau said.
“We would like to request if the Government could look into this with the relevant authorities.”
Mr Biau added that most times they were in the dark about policies and opportunities provided by the Government to assist their community and its members, because of the lack of awareness.
He therefore requested that there be visits by officials from respective Ministries to their villages that they could access these assistance and grants, without being left in the dark.
Vatoa is one of the outlying islands in the Fiji archipelago that lies close to the Kingdom of Tonga.
The National Development Plan consultation plan team, together with the Ministry of Health outreach Team also visited at Ogea and Fulaga Islands last week.