$70m saviour

By SERAFINA SILAITOGA
Monday, October 20, 2008

AN American investor, who has helped better the lives of a group of villagers in the Northern Division, has laid the foundation for a multi-million dollar five star resort which is expected to provide jobs for more than a hundred people.

Construction work on the $70million Nukudrau Island Resort on the remote Nukudrau Island in Natewa Bay, is expected to begin next month.

Resort owner and American investor Larry Claunch who owns the 48 acre freehold island and One Hundred Sands Ltd in Savusavu has also funded short courses on hospitality and tourism for a group of village women and trained the men in carpentry and other trades.

At the launch of the resort on Saturday, Mr Claunch said the dream to build it started when he was approached by villagers of Viani and their chief, Tui Navadra, Ratu Jope Tuitoga in 2004 asking him to build a resort so they could be employed.

Seeing their limited source of income, Mr Claunch started documentation work to build the resort.

Since 2004, more then 20 villagers have been permanently employed to clean up the island and prepare vegetable and root crop farms to supply food for the resort.

Mr Claunch has leased 100 acres of land on nearby Nukubalavu Island along the same bay and paid a goodwill payment of $0.5million to the Mataqali Sinu.

Turaga ni mataqali Sitiveni Vesikula said members of his mataqali have been blessed by Mr Claunch who has lightened financial burdens for the villagers.

Mr Claunch built flush toilets for villagers of Viani, bought a truck to transport villagers to Savusavu Town since there are no bus services in the area, paid for educational fees for village children at primary, secondary and tertiary levels, built proper bathrooms and provided a water system for the villagers.

Ratu Jope said Mr Claunch was sent by God because they had over the past decades struggled to live comfortable financial lives. "We depend on copra and fish for our source of income but it has not been easy because transportation is hard. Three years ago there was no road in our area and since Mr Claunch came in, he has helped maintain our roads and the truck he bought has been of great help," he said.

"Parents in the villages no longer struggle to pay for their children's school fees because Mr Claunch employs them and being paid every week has helped a lot."

Mr Claunch purchased the island in 2001. He said nearby villagers from Viani and Nasinu in the district of Natewa would be considered first for employment.

The resort would include 24 oceanfront villas, a marina, cultural centre, a Fijian village that would involve traditional activities for tourists, a swimming pool, a jetty and an area out at sea for seaplanes to land.

Interim Tourism Minister Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum who was part of the groundbreaking ceremony on Saturday said Mr Claunch's investment would bring prosperity and wealth to the villagers and to the nation.