We have the collective knowledge, expertise and experience right here: Kumar

Minister for Local Government Parveen Kumar says he expects solutions or a way forward on all issues raised at the final forum.

Mr Kumar said: “We have the collective knowledge, expertise and experience right here in this room to reach for greater heights in all facets of our work.”

He made these comments while opening the 2015 Final Local Government Forum at the Suva City Council chambers yesterday.

Mr Kumar said there were a few concerns in regards to the littering, collection of town rates, sevice delivery, etc that they would be discussing within the next two days.

He said in this forum they would discuss how to improve on these at the municipal levels.

“As far as this forum is concerned all councils are to come together for a common cause without any competition; I don’t want any competition amongst councils; I want councils to work together and to also share resources and what they have; take for instance- Nadi will be declared a city in 2017; the other councils will have to get together and assist Nadi with their preparation,” Mr Kumar said.

He said the year 2105 had been a challenging year in terms of seeing the overall operation of all the municipal councils throughout the country.

“We are also in the process of declaring new towns and also extending town boundaries and there was a lot of work done by the respective committees and also by the local government committees and they have brought a lot of changes to our existing legislations,” Mr Kumar said.

“This is our quarterly forum and it’s also our final forum. It will also coincide with our awards night that will be held tomorrow (today).

“During our awards night our ministry and council staff will be awarded on the work they have done in their respective municipality and their communities,” he said.

Edited by ManasaKalouniviti

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