KWASAI Tribal Trustees in Central Kwara’ae are threatening to halt the Fiu hydro project operations with a 30-day ultimatum to the government.
They will tendered the 30 days challenge starting today which will lapses on the 24th next month.
It is understood the ultimatum is given to allow the trustee (group) to resolve some of the tribal issues and disagreements that has not been rectified.
A letter cited by Solomon Star 25th July 2016 which carried the subject, “Fiu Hydro Project and Kwasai Customary Land dealings” revealed that the Kwasai trustee ask the responsible authorities to have the project delayed until the issues are sorted out.
The letter stated “Please be advised that it is not our intention to cause disturbance to the mentioned project, however it just came to our attention during the recent awareness held here in Ngadaifiu that we have been completely left out of many important stages and consultations of the project, this in effect have caused disagreements within our tribal group.
“We ask you to have the project delayed until we sort out the disagreements within our tribe before proceeding further to the vesting stage of the project.”
The Kwasai landowners said that they are completely left in the dark thus called on the Honiara base committee and Kwasai rep Mr Nelson Ne’e to meet with them within 30 days.
“We were never made aware of all the 9 stages of the project, maybe correspondences have been done but with only the Honiara based committee, but nothing has been relayed to us.
“To put the record straight, we never at any time agree for Mr Ne’e to be our representative and according to our tribal genealogy, he should not be the proper person to head our tribe.
“We even did not have any knowledge of when the acquisition process took place last year, we did not aware of any notices been put out in relation to the process,” it said.
The Trustees group said that all the processes have been done without any of their knowledge.
“We suspect that all of these have been done only with Mr Ne’e and the Honiara Based committee without our knowledge.
“Therefore, we kindly request for the vesting process of the land to be delayed until we sort this issue out.
“Failure to take heed of this letter will result in us having no other options but to take actions which will cause disturbance to the project.
“We would also like to inform you that we will not hesitate to resort to the option of dispute if our request is not heeded. Our request is simple and only in two folds;
- First is for the so called Honiara based Kwasai Committee to meet with us immediately within 30 days of the date of this letter to sort out our disagreements.
- Secondly for you (gov’t) to delay the vesting process to give us time to sort out the disagreements.
“Also be advised that, if our request are not take heed of and you continue to proceed with the project, we will regard any activity within our land as trespass into our customary land and you know very well there will be consequences.
“It is not our intention to caused disturbances or disputes the project, we fully support the project but we want this hiccup sorted amicably.
The Kwasai Trustees confirmed that they will be issuing copies of the letter today to the Government through its responsible Ministries namely; the Ministry of Mines, Energy and Rural Electrification and the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Survey to inform them of their intention.
The Fiu Hydro project which has about 21 stages, has now reached half way at stages 10 and 11 which is Vesting Orders and Land registration.
The Fiu Hydro Power Project is situated in the Fiu River, Central Kwara’ae constituency.
It is an important national project for the Solomon Islands Government as reflected in its Policy Statement.
The total funding for the project is around US$15 million, with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) providing US$12 million, while the Solomon Islands Government and the Solomon Islands Electricity Authority (SIEA) contributing the remaining US$3 million.
The Project will be undertaken by SIEA as part of its provincial development energy programme to expand its operations throughout the country.
Fiu Hydro has the potential to increase electricity capacity to Auki Township and other surrounding areas once operational.
It is also anticipated that the project has the potential to increase SIEA’s capacity to supply power to important establishments like the Kilu’ufi and Fauabu hospitals with the possibility to reach key growth centres like Bina Harbour as well.
