Dr Reddy clarifies use of sand and gravel from Nasivi River

Members of the public who wish to use gravel and sand extracted from the Nasivi River must first communicate with the Ministry of Lands and Mineral Resources for permission.

The Minister for Waterways, Environment and Agriculture, Mahendra Reddy was responding to a question asked by Tavua District representative Ratu Ovini Bokini who enquired about the sand and gravel extracted from the Nasivi River.

This was during the discussion session at Tavualevu Village on Tuesday after Mr Reddy commissioned the completion of the Nasivi

River Desilting Works.

“The material that you have piled on the other side, that’s the material that includes silt, if you damage that material, it’s like a band, but if there’s sand and gravel on the other side, you can take that but if you sell it then you need to take permission from the Ministry of Lands and pay royalty,” he said.

“You can use that for village purposes that’s not an issue, we can use it for state use for roads etcetera but you can’t sell it, we can’t sell it, any one of the parties the landowner and the Government we can’t sell it, if we sell or you sell then you have to pay the royalty.”

The Ministry for Lands and Mineral Resources released an advisory in 2021 that stated any extraction of sand and gravel for personal or commercial use would require a licence due to the increased illegal sand and gravel extraction since the first COVID-19 lockdown in April 2021.

“Under Section 2 of the State Lands Act, 1945 and Section 2 of the Rivers and Streams Act 1880, the State (Government) owns all Foreshore, Rivers, Streams and the Waters of Fiji including the soil under the waters of Fiji. This also includes sand and gravel,” the advisory read.

“Anyone found carrying out either a small scale or commercial extraction of these resources from any of the public beaches, foreshore, rivers and streams without a valid sand and extraction licence, is breaking the law and will be prosecuted accordingly.”