National Development Plan of Fiji

The Fijian Government has long recognised that public-private partnerships are a potential solution to its continual search for better economic growth and improved public infrastructure delivery. In light of this, the government endorsed its PPP policy on 21 July 2001.

In 2006 the Fijian economy was considered sufficiently mature to effectively sustain PPPs due to reforms having taken place in the civil service, financial management and public enterprises, which were seen to contribute to competitiveness of the Fijian economy.

In the Fiji national assessment report of 2006, it was highlighted that one of the key aims of the Fijian Government was to raise the annual level of investment to at least 25 per cent of gross domestic product. The government thought that the surest way of achieving this goal was by increasing private investment, particularly in the regions of physical infrastructure and human capital development.

Added to this, one of the strategic priorities laid out in Fiji’s Strategic Development Plan (SDP 2003-05) was achieving structural reforms and promoting competition and efficiency. PPPs were widely considered to be an appropriate solution to achieving such goals. To this effect, the Fijian Government implemented the Public Private Partnership Act in 2006.

However, despite the country’s clear commitments to private sector investment through the use of PPP initiatives, the government has achieved relatively little in this field since 2006.