Delayed Lautoka swimming pool project loses Government funding

Funding allocated for the Lautoka Swimming Pool project was redirected to help address the recent fuel crisis after delays slowed progress on the development, says Minister for Finance, Commerce and Business Development Esrom Immanuel.

The Government has declined requests for additional funding in the 2026-2027 National Budget, directing the Lautoka City Council to use its own resources to complete the project.

The project received $1.9 million in the 2025-2026 National Budget, in addition to $1.5 million allocated in the 2024-2025 Budget.

"It was budgeted, however, due to the slowness in the activation of the project, some of the funds were redirected.

"I think the Lautoka City Council now is in a better position to take over the project. That's why it was not budgeted for this financial year," Mr Immanuel said.

He said the unspent funds were redeployed to support the Government's response to the fuel crisis.

"A few things that we did. One is, as you are aware, there are two redeployments that we did because of this fuel crisis and a few of those projects, because of the delays, we moved the funds from there to assist in the fuel crisis."

Earlier this year, the Lautoka City Council said it was reviewing the project's scope of work.