Fiji’s first business park, Garden City, which went ahead with expansion plans despite the events of December 2006, is now on schedule to complete construction by next month, said owner Yee Wah Sing.

The self-made former ginger farmer – who is now into property development through his company Marco Polo Holdings – told Fijilive that it was factors other than the then prevailing political climate drove the decision to go ahead with the Garden City expansion.

“This is one of the first projects that was actually conceived, designed and initiated after the coup of 2006. We had a choice on whether to stop or go on with it but we didn’t see any reason for it to stop,” Wah Sing said.

“The funding was there, the interest rate has actually come down although it was up at one stage. So there are some favourable factors. Of course the devaluation in April raised costs a bit but I don’t think the cost will ever come down so we thought we might as well carry on with it. Costs will always go up, historically it has shown that. Building costs in the last nine years have almost probably doubled now.”

Wah Sing, an agricultural graduate who spent years farming and exporting ginger, sold his exporting business before venturing into property development.

In 1999, he bought the Garden City site and began construction in 2001, just months after the 2000 coup.

“I think the risk with property development is much less than other things I’ve done before, much greater than farming, where you have these biological factors, climatic uncertainties. Property development compared to that is a much safer. And of course the banks are much more willing to finance it,” Wah Sing said.

He is expecting construction work to come to a head by next month at the earliest and although space availability has yet to be advertised, it has already attracted interested parties.

“I haven’t publicised it yet but I already have a few tenants. We are adding around 16,000 square feet of new space on top the 80,000 square feet we have at the moment,” Sing Wah said.