Youth ministry to rebuild burnt Labasa dorm

The Ministry of Youth and Sports will spend more than $200,000 to rebuild the boy’s dormitory at the Youth Training Centre in Naleba, Labasa, which was destroyed by fire last year.

The new building will be designed to be disaster resilient.

Minister for Youth and Sports, Jese Saukuru, said that discussions were ongoing with the Chinese Embassy to secure funding assistance for the reconstruction project.

The fire occurred on April 13 last year, completely destroying the dormitory and its contents, affecting 25 trainees and trainers.

“The Chinese Embassy is waiting on mainland China to approve the funding support to us,” he revealed.

He said the restoration of the burnt-down dormitory would allow for the expansion of both boys’ and girls’ dormitories.

The new dormitory will be equipped with modern facilities and amenities to better serve the needs of youths in the North.

The centre is one of two training centres in the Northern Division and one of five in Fiji under the ministry.

It was built in 2005, offering free education to both males and females in areas such as agriculture.

Mr Saukuru added that the main goal now was to achieve a fast recovery from the current destruction to normalcy.

Feedback: sampras.anand@fijisun.fj