Members of the Eastern Division Development Board are advocated to provide high-quality advice to people they serve in order to bring success to projects which will result in improving the quality of people’s lives.
The Commissioner Eastern, Mr Netani Rika told this to members of the Eastern Division Development Board during their meeting at the Parliament complex this week. The Eastern Division includes the maritime provinces of Lau, Lomaiviti, Kadavu and Rotuma.
“Government’s intent as we all know is to “Build a better Fiji for all” and for this purpose, it would be through the integrated rural development framework for productive, progressive, safe and resilient communities in Fiji, in our case the Eastern Division,” Rika said.
He highlighted that one of the ways the rural to urban drift issue can be addressed is by providing economic and income generating projects in these areas.
“It is therefore essential for government and other stakeholders to come up with quality advice to curb both rural to urban drift and the incidence of poverty in Fiji’s rural areas,” he said.
He reiterated the commitment by the Bainimarama Government to improve the livelihoods of those living in rural communities across the country.
“In 2011 Government implemented 19 programs worth approximately F$67 million aimed at improving infrastructure in the country’s rural areas, addressing the lack of basic infrastructure such as roads, ports and jetties, access to electricity, telecommunication , water supply and shipping services for market access,” he said.
Commissioner Eastern Division, Mr Netani Rika