Power supply
Rugby issue
WAS there something seriously wrong with our preparations for the Under 20 Rugby World Championship?
With due respect, their performance continued to nose dive with another disappointing defeat to Spain. Or was it a case of playing against the big boys who have huge financial and technical backings? All in all, let’s hope a thorough analysis is undertaken of the selection process and preparations. More importantly, the lessons learnt need to be shared publicly for the sake of upcoming players and also for those who are likely to aim for the Flying Fijians. FLOYD ROBINSON Micronesia
Used needles
USED needles and syringes are found lying around in streets, parks and the roadside along many streets in Lautoka.
The effort by police, teachers and parents seem futile as many young adults are seen wondering the streets at night, not knowing where they are headed too. I suppose the country left it a little too late to address the problem and I request if a law could be fast-tracked on the sale of syringes and needles in Fiji.
NARAYAN REDDY Lautoka
Drug-related
DPM Professor Biman Prasad talking about drug-related crimes and violence getting out of control (FT17/7) in Fiji shows Fijian children are seriously exposed to it.
I feel the Government is initiating many awareness programs financially but without achieving results as expected. Unless we get down to the root cause, this problem will continue. We all have a role to play with parents to be most accountable. Kill this killer disease before it kills our children. TAHIR ALI
Hamilton, New Zealand
New Fiji flag
IF anyone is interested to reserve the domain name newfijiflag.com, I have good news for you: it’s still available! On a more serious note, I was wondering how much money the Bainimarama-Khaiyum government spent on that initiative in 20152016? It must be a little fortune! I also wonder how much money each one of our dear politicians, past and present, have in their bank accounts? It ought to be zero if they have studied the wise motto of the Happy Isles. For those with little interest in tourism and vexillology, I am referring to the Solomon Islands. MATHIEU GILLES PELLETIER Nadakovu, Sigatoka
Public perception
The only way to change public perception is for FICAC to carry out its functions as mandated by law with the highest level of professional integrity and independence from political interference.
SELWA NANDAN Lautoka
Electrical connections
IN February 2023, my wife and I returned to Taveuni from a trip to Australia. We were pleasantly surprised to see that while we were away EFL had been busy erecting power poles. Best of all, EFL brought the poles all the way to the top of our driveway. The downside was that the EFL contractor had to cut down all of our magniƝcent vaivai trees. The contractors left a huge mess which was the subject of a Letter to the Editor. I received a personal call from the boss of EFL who promised that the mess would be cleared away. Nothing was done and it subsequently cost us $1200 to hire a digger to do the job.
One and a half years later and we still don’t have electricity.
In addition, we had rural electriƝcation contractors doing installations in the Matei/Naselesele area.
However, who gets the free installation? It seems to those of us who are not on the list of the lucky ones, that the whole process of choosing who would get the free installation was very selective and discriminatory.
This has forced us, the unlucky ones, to have to hire private electrical contractors to wire our homes.
This is where the next contentious issue arises. I hired a contractor to wire my house, the job was completed three weeks ago. I rang the contractor this morning to ask him when would the EFL installation inspectors come and pass his work so that we could get electricity and stop having to buy expensive fuel for our generator.
His answer: “Not really sure, EFL said maybe in three weeks time, if we’re lucky.”
There’s a large population in our area and everybody wants electricity. You would think that EFL would be rubbing their hands and saying, “good, another source of revenue”. However, it appears to us as though EFL’s attitude is, “why do you people keep bugging us, we’ll come and do the connections when we’re good and ready”.
Another bone of contention is that in order for EFL to install their electricity meters and connect the home to the grid, the home owner must show a land title before they would even consider supplying power.
EFL is still living in the past, you are supplying a commodity, the meter belongs to EFL, but the supply or not of electricity to the meter is dependant upon the user buying pre paid electricity similar to how we all buy Vodafone and Digicel credit.
In the country, many people build their homes on family land, in most cases the land titles are in probate etc.
Question is, do those homes get left off the grid because of a technicality? I certainly hope that EFL can address the issues that I have raised.
DONALD THOMAS PICKERING, Matei, Taveuni
EFL issue
SINCE its inception, I believe the FEA, now EFL, made a net loss of $24.8m, because of very poor visionary aspects and proactive measures, in my opinion.
In 2023, it spent $193m for the 65MW of containerised diesel-powered generators, to meet the nation’s electricity demands.
Who is to be blamed? We have foreign self-Ɲnanced solar energy investors waiting on its doorstep, but to no avail.
Does the Government really have the majority shares? Or does it just look good on paper?
There seems to be no sense of urgency from the Coalition Government’s perspective.
It seems the EFL has been inƞuenced by a few “elites”, who have entrenched their interests, within its administrative prospects.
This is not a minor issue, because EFL has been self-inƞicting itself for quite some time.
It is about time, the Coalition Government “steps up” and takes ownership. To walk the talk and not just be a spectator. The people matter most. SAMU SILATOLU
Nakasi