The lecture series that is being jointly organized by USP Lautoka Campus and FRIEND continued this month with a seminar on the topic of “Growth and Development in Lautoka”. The event was chaired by Mr Joseph Veramu, Director, USP Lautoka Campus. The guest speakers for the evening were Mr Pusp Raj, CEO Lautoka City and Dr Mahendra Reddy, Associate Professor, School of Economics, USP.

Each speaker was introduced in turn to offer their thoughts, knowledge and perspective on economic development in Lautoka. Listening to the speakers was indeed interesting, as their experience has given them very different ideas on the responsibility of city government in moving development forward. Mr Raj expressed the City Council view of its role as supervisor of development and voiced the frustrations that come when there is inadequate funding for development. Dr Reddy clearly articulated his position that the responsibility of the council should go beyond custodial duties to pro-actively seeking new business and to lobbying the national government for funds in proportion to the population that uses the services of the city. Following their presentations, the speakers took questions from the audience. Both gentlemen offered interesting and valid points for the audience of concerned citizens to consider.

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