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Human resource is the key: Usamate“All of you are winners because you are using quality tools which youcan take and use it in your homes, churches, villages and the variousgroups that you are in,”Mr Jone Usamate, Minister for ProductivityMinister for Employment, Productivity and Industrial RelationsMr Jone UsamateTHE fountain head of productivity is humanresource.These were the words of the Minister forEmployment, Productivity and IndustrialRelations Mr Jone Usamate while openingthe 2017 TLTB Internal Quality Convention(IQC) for the iTaukei Land Trust Board (TLTB)at the Holiday Inn in Suva. Mr Usamate saysthat in any organisation the human resourceis like a human body - if you don’t exerciseit, you don’t grow.“You use it or lose it. And when you growpersonally, productivity follows,” he added.TLTB had been holding their IQC for thefourth time now, starting in 2014.This year, ten teams from each regionaloffice across the country competed for thetop prize all in the name of continuousimprovement and productivity.Mr Usamate congratulated TLTB forcontinuing the improvement processespecially in terms of using the quality circletools.“It may be a cost to get staff from all theregional offices into this room but it’s a greatinvestment. And I must thank the ExecutiveManagement and Senior Managers becauseTLTB can only get better from here onwards,”he said.“All of you are winners because you are usingquality tools which you can take and use itin your homes, churches, villages and thevarious groups that you are in,” he said.Central Eastern Region got the Gold Awardwith 400 cash, North-West Region wentaway to Lautoka with the Silver Award and 300 cash and a tie for the IT Departmentand HR Department with the Bronze Awardrunning away with 250 cash each.In his concluding remarks, GeneralManager Mr Tevita Kuruvakadua said thatall the proposals and recommendationsfrom the teams would be part of theStrategic Corporate Plan for next year.TLTB had won one gold and two silverawards at the National Quality Conventionfor the last three years.In 2015, they represented Fiji at theInternationalExpositiononTeamExcellence (IETEX) in Singapore where itwon a 3-Gold Star Award. nTLTB in support of COP23AS part of its initiative to support Fiji’svision of combating the impacts ofclimate change and in support of Fiji’sPresidency of the COP23, the iTaukeiLand Trust Board (TLTB) is goingout helping communities by issuingconservation leases, planting trees aswell as mangroves.COP23 refers to the 23rd annualConference of the Parties to the 1992United Nations Framework Conventionon Climate Change and of which ourPrime Minister Mr Voreqe Bainimaramais the President.As a result TLTB has so far plantedthousands of trees and mangroves inBa, Nadroga, Ra, Macuata, Naitasiri,Rewa and Tailevu.“We have seen the need to give backto the community in the manner thatwe are doing by conserving our existingforests and planting trees in strategicareas with the help of the Departmentof Forests and respective provincialcouncils,” he added.“We are glad that as the biggestland management services in Fijiwe are taking the lead to supportthe Government in mitigating theimpacts of climate change,”Mr Tevita Kuruvakadua,General ManagerGeneral Manager Mr Tevita Kuruvakaduasaid that TLTB’s core function is linkedvery closely to the Government’s strategiceffort to combat global warming and thehuman activity that causes it.iTaukei Land Trust BoardOne of TLTB’s recent corporate socialresponsibility (CSR) activity was theplanting of 800 mangrove plants atQoma Village (Tailevu) which was one ofthe areas brutally ravaged by king tidesand tsunami during Cyclone Winstonearly last year.“Their seawall is basically made upof dead corals and stones. Over theyears, due to the constant impactof this weathering agent, sea wallsaround Qoma are damaged and thereare extreme signs of coastal erosion.Villagers attempt to rebuild their seawallwith cement filled in drums but it couldnot help,” he said.“We believe that every citizen in Fiji,individually or as a corporate entity, havea role to play. And for TLTB we are gladthat as the biggest land managementservices in Fiji we are taking the leadto support the Government in mitigatingthe impacts of climate change,” he said.Mr Kuruvakadua said this was theinitiative of the staff under the FijiBusiness Excellence Award Committee.TLTB’s Goal 4 of the 2017 Strategic Planstipulates the importance of partnershipengagement and support for theimplementation of international andregional environment conventions.This story is being published in memory of the late ProductivityOfficer Mrs Reijeli Gade (right) who passed away in August at herhome in Nadawa. She has been the hallmark of success for thelast three years especially in terms of Business Excellence, QualityCircle, 5’S’ and our corporate social responsibility (CSR)The villagers have raised their concernsat different forums including the TailevuProvincial Council and TLTB came tohelp and planted mangroves along theirshoreline to protect their island homeand the ecosystems in general. n3

PM congratulate landowners’ big stepTui Nabou Development & Construction LtdWHILE opening the new Natogadravusubdivision project in August, thePrime Minister and Minister for iTaukeiAffairs Voreqe Bainimarama repeatedthe saying; “Good things don’t cometo those who wait, they come tothose who prepare themselves to dowell” to commend the Turaga na TuiNabou Semi Matalau and his yavusafor showing how to work hard andfind success.Mr Matalau is also the head ofthe landowning unit, the YavusaNatogadravu from Nuku, Tailevu whopartly owns the Tui Nabou Development& Construction Ltd.They set up the company that developedthe sub-division called Senibua Place;their first itaukei land residentialsubdivision which consists of 51residential plots, one commercial spaceand an office space.But it has paid off inMatalau is gratefuland stakeholders forensuring the successthe end and Mrto Governmenttheir support inof their project.The Yavusa of Natogadravu have a lotplanned for their land including theidea of building resorts and creatingthe place a semi-urban in the next 5to 10 years.Prime Minister Mr Voreqe Bainimarama gets a brief tour at SenibuaPlace - a new sub-division at Natogadravu, TailevuMr Bainimarama said the 437,400 loanrepayment to FDFB will be drawn fromthe iTaukei Land Development allocationin the 2017-2018 National Budget.“I’m very excited to announce thatwe will pay on your behalf the firstrepayment of 437,400 of the total 727,290 loan you’ve borrowed from theFDB to finance this project.“We’re doing this (paying for theloan) because we believe in you, webelieve in the example you are settingfor every iTaukei community and webelieve in the future you are workingto create – for yourselves and forevery Fijian. I look forward to seeingyour community continue to build upyour land and make yourselves moreeconomically and financially powerful,”Mr Bainimarama concluded. nPartnership to formalise squatter settlementsTHE iTaukei Land Trust Board (TLTB)has so far received over 1 millionin premium from the issuance ofdevelopmentleasesforsquattersettlements around the country - amajor commitment by the governmentthroughtheMinistryofLocalGovernment, Housing and Environment.Deputy General Manager Operations,Research & Development (DGMORD)Mr Solo Nata said a total of 20development leases had been issuedto the Government to develop around3,000 lots in Fiji. Mr Nata said thegovernment would be responsible forthe scheme preparation, engineeringworks and would pay for all othercapital costs involved.TLTB charge a premium of 3000 peracre and then an additional premiumwhen lots are developed before issuing99-year leases to occupants.The landowners will benefit from suchpremiums and annual rent for theleases subject to review after everyfive years.The informal settlements are formalisedto meet health and sanitation standardswhen completed with considerations tobe handed over to town councils aspart of its municipal boundaries.Providing formal titles and houses to4Furthermore,TLTB’slanduseplans align itself directly to theGovernment’s National Land Use Plan,the Green Growth Framework and theUN’s Sustainable Development Goalsthat contains the following: T he Urban Policy Action Planspecifies 7 main thematic areaswhich require TLTB’s commitmentgiven the organisation’s statutoryrole as the administrator of 91% ofthe land in Fiji.Receiving a cheque for the payment of premium fromGovernment DGMORD Mr Solo Nata and Minister for LocalGovernemt, Housing and the EnvironmentMr Praveen Kumarsquatters satisfies Chapter 2 Section35 – Rights to Housing and Sanitationunder the 2013 Constitution of Fiji.The responsibilities of TLTB and otherstakeholders in formalising vakavanuasettlements or squatter settlementsfulfill certain mission statements in ourStrategic Corporate Plan 2017-2019 andthat is to: P romote economic, environmental,socially and culturally sustainable landuse practices and uphold sustainabledevelopmentgoalsandotherinternational conventions; E nsure the iTaukei landowners receivea fair market value for their land andresources. R espectively, TLTB’sfiduciaryrole as mandated under the TLTA(Cap 134) in ensuring appropriateadministrationof iTaukei land,and the release of land by iTaukeilandowners is undertaken throughproper processes and utilised for itsbest and highest purpose. nSquatters in Fiji(Various Estimation) Also known as vakavanuasettlementTotal Settlements: 200;Total Population: 150,000;7% of Fiji’s total population;15% of the urban population;Using 80% of iTaukei reserveland.iTaukei Land Trust Board

Start and improve your business trainingTHE iTaukei Land Trust Board’sLandowner Affairs Unit (LAU) have justrecently undertaken a Start & ImproveYour Business (SIYB) training underthe banner of the International LabourOrganisation (ILO).Manager LAU Mrs Kelera Gadolo saidthey started their financial literacytraining programme for landownersin 2015 but had been largely veryunproductive.“I believe the training that ILO broughtis really what the TLTB needed in termsof finding out where the problemswere with landowners who have notprogressed from where they were.What we now need to do is to identifywho really wants to learn, who willbenefit the most out of the trainingand who requires further assistancethereafter,” she said.According to Mrs Gadolo, the responseto the programme financial literacysessions has been overwhelming withlandowners being very appreciative ofthe initiative.“Ihavetoaddthatrural-basedLandowners SIYB Training at the Head Office in Suvalandowners have been facilitating theirfinances on their own for some time now,some with successes, but the majoritywith very little successes in saving, orin realising that their assets can be usedto assist them in starting their savings.And as such the Financial LiteracySessions is almost an eye opener totheir abilities, i.e. taking out leases andusing that to fund their farming etc.,”she said.“Somelandownershavestartedtheir small businesses, some haveincorporated new-found concepts andknowledge to their existing farms,which they

for the descendants of the Indian indentured labourers in Fiji. “The 99-year leases was initially issued . THE Fijian Government announced its National Budget for the new fiscal year, . ists including jungle wedding