$60k returned to UN Women

THE Ministry of Local Government has returned $60,000 to UN Women as unutilised funding from the Savusavu Market Project.

Local Government Minister Premila Kumar said they used a total of $430,000 on the preliminary phase of the project.

During a talanoa session with the minister, a Savusavu ratepayer, Aren Nunnink, asked whether the money given by UN Women was “still safe”.

He asked Mrs Kumar whether the funding from donors were safe and still available for the market project.

Mrs Kumar told the ratepayers she would consult the Ministry of Economy and ask for more funding for the market project.

“We have used $430,000 given by the UN Women and it was for the fish market and payment of an engineer,” Ms Kumar said.

“But we have returned $60,000 to UN Women and from their perspective, they need a little bit more time to commence the project.

“It was a very messy project that we are cleaning up now and I am terribly sorry that it took so long to fix this issue.”

Mrs Kumar said they needed to find long-term solutions.