Levuka’s economy has gone backwards since the town was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List, the chairman of its council has told MPs, saying the heritage rules arrived without the investment the town had been promised. Ben Naidu, chairman of the special administrators running Levuka Town Council, gave the evidence to Parliament’s Standing Committee on Social Affairs, in remarks reported on 8 October by the Fiji Sun.
Key facts
- Levuka Historical Port Town is Fiji’s only entry on the World Heritage List, inscribed in 2013 according to UNESCO’s register — making the listing 13 years old at the time of the hearing.
- Mr Naidu told the committee the World Heritage system, administered by UNESCO, had not been implemented as promised and had not delivered the economic benefits the town expected.
- He said residents left the town once heritage protection came in and that businesses struggled to comply with the new requirements.
- Special Administrator Nemani Bulivou told the same committee that rates remain the council’s main source of funding and that the council is looking for other income.
- The Fiji Sun report carried no figures for population change, business closures or council revenue, and quoted only the two special administrators.
What the council told MPs
Mr Naidu described expectations that were not met. “We had such high hopes for UNESCO to come into Levuka and really bring us the much-needed wealth for the place,” he said, according to the Fiji Sun. What came instead, he told the committee, was a set of rules without the money that was meant to accompany them. He acknowledged the value of heritage protection but said it needed to be paired with the financial support the town had been promised.
His claim about businesses was about compliance rather than demand: operators found the new heritage requirements hard to meet, and that fed the downturn. The report did not set out which requirements he meant, nor which agency enforces them.
Mr Bulivou’s evidence covered the council’s strategic plan, which he said looks beyond rates to additional revenue sources, better use of assets the council already owns and heritage tourism. The plan also takes in physical works, among them seawall reconstruction and drainage upgrades. No costs, timelines or funding commitments for either project were attached in the report.
What a listing carries
Inscription is a conservation designation, not a grant. Under the Operational Guidelines for the World Heritage Convention, International Assistance from the World Heritage Fund has to be requested by the state party and is tied to defined conservation, management, training or emergency work; the listing itself allocates no money to a listed town. The Fiji Sun report did not record what form of investment Levuka says it was promised, by whom, or when.
What is not on the record
No independent data was put before the committee, as reported, to measure the decline Mr Naidu described. The public tests would be Fiji’s census counts for Levuka — the last two were taken in 2007 and 2017, either side of the 2013 inscription — and the council’s own rates revenue over the same period. Neither was cited.
Neither UNESCO nor the ministry responsible for heritage is quoted in the report, so there is no response on the record to the council’s account. Fiji News will report any response it receives.
Cost pressures on small operators have been documented separately: the Fijian Competition and Consumer Commission has warned, as Fiji News reported, about fuel and shipping costs feeding into import prices. Mr Naidu did not cite those costs; his stated causes were the heritage rules and the missing investment.
The immediate decisions rest with the committee: whether it accepts the council’s account, and whether any funding follows the strategic plan Mr Bulivou outlined. Fiji News will report the committee’s findings when they are tabled.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Levuka?
Levuka sits on the eastern side of Ovalau, in Fiji’s Lomaiviti Group. It served as Fiji’s capital until the seat of government moved to Suva in 1882, and the surviving port townscape from that era is the basis of its heritage status.
Who runs Levuka Town Council?
The council is run by government-appointed special administrators rather than an elected mayor and councillors. Fiji’s municipal councils have been administered that way since 2009.
What is the Standing Committee on Social Affairs?
It is one of the Fiji Parliament’s standing committees. Committees of this kind take evidence from ministries and public bodies, review their annual reports and performance, and report their findings back to Parliament.
