a pity

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What a pity

For years Australia has acted as big brother to Fiji, giving aid ant'd other grants to its neighbour out of the goodness of its heart. Now Fiji has decided to give Australia an aid in the guise of the newly constructed Reef Endeavour-a ship costing $lB million will be sold to Australia for $9 million.

But it can only be hoped that Australia will refuse the gift and say “ Oh com’on mate, that’s not fair, well pay the whole amount’. The “Sorry Saga of the Reef Endeavour” (RIM September) has not ended.

Following the launching of the 73 metre vessel last month at Suva, some senior members of the govern ment shipyard sent a report to govern ment asking that Captain Cook Cruises and Qantas, the buyers of the ship, be paid off and the ship be kept or sold for the actual price.

Infrastructure and Public Utilities Minister Leo Smith said it had been made known to him that government should consider retaining the ship and paying off the buyers of the ship because Fiji could not expect to shoul der such a large loss.

Smith shared the view that the ship could become a useful asset for Fiji. He said the vessel could provide first class accommodation to tourists and at the same time allowing them to cruise to various exotic destinations within Fiji while remaining in the com fort of their rooms.

Smith said if the ship was retained, it could provide an excellent means of spreading the tourist dollar on outer islands like Lau, Kadavu, Yasawas and Vanua Levu ports.

A shipyard source who disclosed the shipyard’s intention for the ship, said government should consider using political means to persuade the Australian buyers to pay the total cost of the ship.

Despite the launching, it is still not plain sailing. The anticipated date of delivery was August. This has been

revised and set between April/May next year. The delay is causing the shipyard to lose close to $5OOO a day and in fact until the anticipated date of delivery the shipyard would have lost over $3 million.

Perhaps the fear of legal repercussions may prevent the Fiji government from trying to pay off Captain Cook Cruises because any legal action would have to be instituted under the New South Wales Law and Fiji has lost once already in a civil case arising out of the contract.

Fiji can now only rely on the “goodness” of Australian government and Captain Cook Cruises to save the people of Fiji from shouldering this loss which is not their fault.

To this day it is a mystery how an anticipated $l6 million project was agreed to at almost half the price. A lot of speculation has been made and the man responsible for this bungling, Captain Sekove Cama, has taken early retirement leaving the nation to suffer a colossal loss.

But all is not lost. Smith says the project though ambitious has proved one positive point and that is that Fiji

is qualified to build such large ships and to international standards too.

However, before Fiji attempts to undertake any more such projects, the shipyard itself needs to be put in a proper perspective and rather than just being seen as an employment agency, it should be directed in a prof itable direction. Smith agrees and says that government has been look ing at commercialising the shipyard, A Malaysia and a Korean company have shown interest in taking over the

shipyard.

Smith is confident in the success of a privatised shipyard because he says it is centrally located and can cater for fishing vessels and other vessels needing repairs and mainte nance works done in the Pacific, What is lacking at the moment is the building technology and an effi cient work force. Smith said a lot of work needed to be done before the shipyard could become viable, Needless to say if Australia does not acceed to Fiji’s request for full payment on the ship, then the ship yard might as well have built its last ship. ■

Fiji’s government shipyard: Will it endure the Reef Endeavour