5 Apr 2006

Fiji land owners threaten to shut down water bottling plant

9:05 am on 5 April 2006

Indigenous Fijians claiming to be the original owners of the land on which the pioneering mineral water company, Fiji Water, is located have threatened to shut the plant down.

The Fiji Sun reports that the land at Yaqara in north western Viti Levu is also the site of the proposed 1-billion dollar Studio City.

The newspaper quotes a landowners' representative, Eseroma Tuibua as saying companies are making millions of dollars in profits from the land while the native owners are getting nothing from it.

Mr Tuibua says the government should return all state land to its rightful original owners, failing which they will take action.