Imaginative moves from

Trade Winds

Imaginative moves from ‘Your Island in the Sky’

Air Pacific, Fiji’s flag carrier, which has not made a profit in the last five years, has introduced a unique method of raising funds through the issue of travel bonds.

Beginning on June 17, Air Pacific’s new chairman, Suva civil engineer John Hill, ex plained at a June press confer ence, Fiji’s business houses and citizens would be invited to lend the airline cash in multiples of SFSOOO for from three to five years. Yearly interest of 20 per cent will be payable, immediate ly on receipt of the loan, in Air Pacific flight tickets or freight charges for the life of the loan and for 12 months afterwards.

Already some Fiji business houses have promised loan par cels of $lOO,OOO.

Air Pacific is also acquiring naming rights on a building in Sydney. The building, which will be leased and called Fiji House, will have the flight reser vations section on the ground floor and will house the Fiji Visitors Bureau and the Fiji Consulate-General.

Mr Hill gave details of the agreement with the US-based Western Airlines to combine in a new, three-times-a-week Fiji- Honolulu-Los Angeles flight be ginning on September 20. Air Pacific will lease a DC-10 air craft from Western for SUS 162,500 a month. American tourists in Fiji, said Mr Hill, are 20,000 a year fewer now than they were 10 years ago because airlines give preference to through passengers to New Zea land and Australia. Air Pacific had already booked in Los Angeles 400 Americans who had been wait-listed by Air New Zea land for October. It is hoped the service will add another $2O million a year to Air Pacific’s present income of $37 million.

Similar joint ventures are planned with other airlines in cluding Japan Air Lines, and arrangements have been made for British Caledonian Airways

to take on passengers from Los Angeles to Europe.

Meanwhile, there will be a saving of another $1 million a year through the reduction in OPEC fuel prices and an exten sion to 90 days of a 30-day account with Shell.

One prong of the big cost cutting drive ran into trouble in June when the Air Pacific Em ployees Association rejected the management proposal that em ployees take a voluntary 10 per cent cut in wages with reim bursement later through a series of options on $1 Air Pacific shares.

About 200 members met to discuss the proposal and in a secret ballot, rejected it by a large majority. Through this scheme the airline hoped to save $1 million in the coming year.

Previously, union officials had accepted the proposal in princi ple, subject to ratification by members.

Doors shut at

Moneysaver

Moneysaver Supermarket, operated by Rusco at Aorangi on Rarotonga, has gone out of business. Sources associated with the company have blamed

the demise of the store on the distance from the main shopping centre at Avarua, changes in loc al spending habits and the high costs of electricity. The premises have been purchased by the Cook Islands government as the head quarters for the newly establish ed Ministry of Resources under the direction of the Hon Tupui Henry. The two-acre property contains storage space, freezers

W. G.

and office facilities

Coppell.

The “20 factors”

of Vaturu Dam

The Vaturu dam in northwest Viti Levu, Fiji, built by the Aust ralian consortium Hornibrook- Thiess-Leighton, cost about SF23 million more than the ori ginal contract of $49.8 million, Fiji Minister for Communication and Works Semesa Sikivou told the Fiji Parliament in June.

The final amount of $73.3 million included work worth $1.2 million for the Fiji Electrici ty Authority, and $700,000 in extra cost because of exchange rate adjustments.

The Australian consortium’s tender, which contained an esca lation clause, was the lowest of

four tenders, the others being Biwater Shellabear of Britain $56,487,607, John Mowlem of Britain $59,885,550, and Barc lay Brothers of Australia $64,639,006. Mr Sikivou said there were 20 factors connected with the escalation clause but he “did not understand much’’ ab out the various factors.

Some related to machinery prices in Australia in 1979 and some to prices in 1980 and 1981 while others related to the cost of labor in 1979 and later. An extra $900,000 was added to the final cost by strikes and road blocks.

Another $6,600,000 was added for final measurement of bills of .Quantities and extra.works.

France, China,

aid Vanuatu

Yves Rolland-Billocart, director general of the French financial organisation, Caisse Centrale, has had discussions in Vanuatu with Vanuatu President Sokomanu and government ministers over development pro jects including the cocoa project on the island of Malekula. The project will receive Caisse Cen trale support together with aid from the Commonwealth De velopment Corporation.

Mr Rolland-Billocart said

A missing letter from the sign on the Moneysaver Supermarket building highlights the end of trading there. The Cook Islands government will use the build ing for offices.

Caisse Centrale was also willing to take part in other projects such as the industrial zone in Port- Vila, coffee development on Tanna, and cattle-raising or coconut development on Santo.

A mission will also be sent from France to study infrastructure de velopment on Santo, including improvements to Santo Airport.

Caisse Centrale operated in Vanuatu before independence (July, 1980) and, said the Direc tor-General, it would maintain its presence in Vanuatu for as long as it was welcomed.

An eight-member delegation from the People’s Republic of China has had talks in Vanuatu with ministers and senior govern ment officials on projects which China is expected to aid. Projects on several islands, particularly concerned with agriculture, were inspected.

Guadalcanal road

help from ADB

The Asian Development Bank is to provide technical assistance for the upgrading of roads on Solomon Islands’ Guadalcanal Island.

Main objective of the assist ance is to promote development of roads which would provide year-round access to the “ag ricultural opportunity areas”, markets and social and adminis trative centres on the island. The improved road infrastructure would help the movement of goods and people at a reasonable cost, and help increase produc tion and improve living standards of the rural population.

The government has em phasised the role of road trans port in promoting rural develop ment in view of the dispersal of population in small groups, and deficiencies of coastal shipping services. Accordingly, the gov ernment has accorded high prior ity to the proposed road develop ment in Guadalcanal which con tains the largest plains in the otherwise mostly mountainous group of Islands.

Consultant services will be provided under the technical as sistance to carry out economic and engineering investigations for the extension of the main road beyond Aola to Marau

Sound (60 km) and upgrading of its gravel sections, namely, Lam bi-Poha (50 km) on the west of Honiara, and Mbinu-Aola (40 km) on its east, to all-weather low-cost asphalt surfacing standard.

The consultants’ work will be carried out in two phases. Phase I will consist of surveys, prelimi nary engineering and economic analyses of about 150 km of road. After a review of the re sults of the first phase, the con sultants will proceed with Phase II involving detailed designs, cost estimates, construction schedules and other documents for implementation of the select ed road construction and im porovements.