Minister for Sugar Charan Jeath Singh today defended the long-term future of Fiji’s sugar mills in Parliament by detailing a major safety overhaul, even as he engaged in a confrontation with the Opposition MP Rinesh Sharma.
Minister Singh said the infrastructure at all the mills in Fiji are way too old and was bound to face problems.
“We are dealing with a 140 year old infrastructure, many of these technologies are long obsolete and without continuous maintenance and modernisation, the risk of failure and incidents will always remain.”
Despite this historical challenge, Singh assured Parliament that decisive action was underway following the devastating Rarawai Mill fire in Ba:
“Following the lessons learnt from the unfortunate fire at Rarawai mill earlier this year, the FSC has undertaken a comprehensive review in strengthening its fire protection system, operational contingency plans and disaster resilience infrastructure across all three mills – Labasa, Lautoka and Rarawai.”
He confirmed that these stringent safety standards are being implemented.
“These measures are being implemented at both the corporate and mill level ensuring that all facilities operating under the unified safety risk management and disaster preparedness framework that aligns with local industrial standards.”
While delivering his reply, Sharma questioned the Minister about the cause of the Rarawai fire, suggesting negligence by the Sugar Ministry citing a video evidence of scattered bagasse that allegedly accelerated the blaze.
Singh responded sharply to the accusation calling Sharma a “kid,” drawing uproar from the Opposition benches.
The Minister then moved to clarify the duties of a government minister, arguing it was unreasonable to expect him to be physically present at the FSC compound to oversee every daily operation, emphasizing his role is to set policy, not manage operational specifics.
