At its meeting held on 22nd August 2002, the Board of NLTB resolved that the General Manager call a Press Conference after every Board meeting to inform the public of the major decisions taken at its meeting.
ALTA – A Breach of the 1997 Constitution - The Board has agreed that declarations be sought from the Court that ALTA as a legislation contravenes the 1997 Constitution, by making the rights/benefits of indigenous Fijians as landowners of native land subservient to the rights of other citizens in this country. Section 40, as well as section 6 (a), (b), (d) and (j) of the Compact provisions of the Constitution are relevant for this exercise.
ALTA v NLTA - The Board formally re-endorsed its support for NLTA as the way ahead, and Management will be preparing a paper for Cabinet’s consideration. This will facilitate the work of amending the legislation.
20 Year Extensions under Section 13(1) B of ALTA - The Board has endorsed the actions taken by Management on this issue. Cane leases in Seaqaqa are the main beneficiaries of this decision. All landowners affected by this mandatory extension will be informed by our Management team.
New Nadi Office - The Board has approved in principle the setting up of a separate office in Nadi for our South Western region. At present they are housed together in Lautoka with our North Western Regional Office. There are many prospects for business in the South West and the new office will enable NLTB to serve our customers better.
Head Office Renovations - The Board gave its approval for additional funding to complete the Head Office renovations. Work on this commenced last week.
3-Year Corporate Plan - The Board approved the 3-year plan that will set out the vision, mission and strategies that will direct the Board’s activities over the period. The plan will also allow performance targets to be set throughout the organisation.
Job Evaluation Exercise - The Board approved that a Job Evaluation exercise for all positions within NLTB be carried out by PricewaterhouseCoopers. This will be completed by the end of the year. The last evaluation was done in 1991.
Future Meetings - The Board agreed that some of its meetings in future be held outside of Suva to enable members to meet and hear the views of stakeholders.
