Vanua Levu roads project becomes China's biggest Pacific grant: Report

China's US$135 million (FJ$300 million) commitment to Fiji's Vanua Levu Bridges and Roads Project is the largest single grant Beijing has made to any Pacific nation, according to the Lowy Institute's Pacific Aid Map 2026 report.

The report, published yesterday, said the grant agreement was signed in 2024, with construction expected to begin in 2026.

It said the grant reflected Chinese President Xi Jinping's stated shift towards "small and beautiful" development partnerships, even as China's overall aid spending in the Pacific remained below its 2010s peak.

Chinese aid to the Pacific totalled US$255 million (FJ$569 million) in 2024, almost double the pre-pandemic average, according to the report.

However, Chinese lending has fallen sharply, from an annual average of US$360 million (FJ$804 million) in new loan commitments during the 2010s to about US$90 million (FJ$201 million) a year since 2020.

The report ranks China among Fiji's three largest bilateral development partners, alongside Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu.

Other major Chinese grants highlighted in the report include the Nauru National Sports Stadium (US$73 million) and the Vanuatu Earthquake Recovery Grant (US$57 million).

The report also found Chinese state-owned companies remained the dominant contractors on Pacific infrastructure projects, including those financed by the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.

Since 2008, the companies have been involved in more than US$5.1 billion (FJ$11.3 billion) worth of infrastructure projects across the Pacific, accounting for about 40 per cent of the region's infrastructure by value.