By RANOBA BAOA
The Fiji Retailers Association welcomes the initiative of the prive-public partnership that Government has taken to boost Fiji Ports Terminal Limited operations.
This comes after the Government signed a deal with Sri Lankan conglomerate Aitken Spence PLC on Tuesday.
Association president Himmat Lodhia said the partnership is what is needed to boost ports acitivities in the country.
“Over the past few years, we have seen increasing costs at the ports for import and exports,” Mr Lodhia said.
“A lot of previously unheard charges have been introduced and alll these charges and fees have contributed to an increase in costs of doing business. “
These increases has inevitably affected consumers’ pockets and the people end up paying more for the goods, he added.
“We sincerely hope that with this new team, the costs will go down and some of the fees will disappear forever.
“Whilst we are introducing the new team, we hope the services will be streamlined, but let’s hope there is no increase in unemployment.”