Court rejects bid to halt Tamavua project

The High Court in Suva has dismissed in its entirety an application by the Director of Environment seeking a complete halt to the construction of the first two buildings of the Great Han International development in Tamavua.

The orders were delivered by Justice Vishwa Datt Sharma in the Civil High Court on Thursday.

Three applications were before the court: a notice of motion seeking an extension of time to pursue an appeal; a summons seeking a stay of execution of the Environment Tribunal’s orders issued on November 20, pending appeal; and a notice of appeal against the tribunal’s ruling.

In his decision, Justice Sharma noted that stop-work orders were already in place for buildings three and four on level two, as well as buildings five and six, as issued by the Suva City Council (SCC) and the Mineral Resources Department. 

He said buildings one and two were nearing completion.

Justice Sharma said the SCC granted Great Han International a building permit in 2017 and carried out several mandatory site inspections at each stage of construction on level one.

Great Han International is represented by Feizal Younas Haniff of the Haniff Tuitoga law firm.

On September 12, 2023, the SCC issued a Stop Work Notice against the developer following a complaint by the Tamavua Action Group. The group alleged the project posed a risk to Tamavua-i-wai residents because no geotechnical survey had been conducted prior to construction.

However, in November 2024, the Environment Tribunal ruled in favour of Great Han International, allowing it to complete construction of buildings one and two only.

After considering the submissions, Justice Sharma said he was not satisfied that sufficient grounds had been established to justify a stay of execution of the tribunal orders and dismissed the application in its entirety. He also questioned why the SCC issued the building permit in April 2017 if no geotechnical survey had been conducted.

The court granted the appellants 14 days to appeal the Environment Tribunal’s ruling.