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Lautoka
Lautoka is in Fiji.
Get in
Bus or taxi from Nadi or Nadi Airport
See
The Hare Krishna temple is a very friendly place. If you happen to be there on a Sunday, then pop in and they will probably invite you to stay for lunch.
Get out
The fast catamaran "Nanuya Belle" connects to Navutu Stars resort on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, departing from Lautoka at 9am and arriving at the resort at 11.20am. On the return, "Nanuya Belle" departs the resort at 12.30pm and arrives back at Lautoka at 3.15pm.
Lautoka is the second largest city of Fiji. It is in the west of the island of Viti Levu, 24 kilometers north of Nadi, and is the second port of entry in Fiji, after Suva. Lying in the heart of Fiji's sugar cane growing region, it is known as the Sugar City. Covering an area of 1607 square kilometers, it had a population of 42,917 at the 1996 census, the last held to date.
Economic activities
Lautoka is known as the Sugar City because of its sugar cane belt areas. The main Lautoka Sugar Mill is the city's biggest employer by far. Built for the Colonial Sugar Refining Company (Fiji) (CSR) by imported labourers from India and the Solomon Islands between 1899 and 1903, it hires some 1300 employees today. Other industries include timber milling, garment manufacturing, distillery, brewery, jewellery, blending, steelworks, fishing, hatchery, domestic items, paints, and construction.
History
The name of the city is derived from two Fijian words meaning "spear hit." According to an oral tradition, the name arose following a duel between two chiefs. As one speared the other, he was reported to have cried "Lau-toka!"
The first known European sighting of the Lautoka area took place on 7 May 1789. Captain William Bligh spotted and roughly charted the coasts of Lautoka while making his epic voyage to Timor, in the wake of the Mutiny on the Bounty in which he and a few sailors loyal to him were thrown overboard and cast adrift on a life boat.
Politics
Incorporated as a town in 1929, Lautoka was proclaimed a city on 25 February 1977. It is governed by a 16-member city council, who elect from among themselves a Mayor. Bijesh Chand of the Fiji Labour Party (FLP) was elected Mayor in 2005, succeeding Rajendra Goundar, also of the FLP. Chand later left the party, however, and contested the municipal elections of October-November 2005 as an independent candidate. He lost his seat. The FLP won 12 seats and the United Fiji Party (SDL) 4.
Lautoka is at present the only city in Fiji's Western Division, which contains more than 50 percent of the nation's population. It is also the headquarters of the Fiji Electricity Authority, the Fiji Pine Ltd, and the National Marketing Authority.
Demography
Since 1970, the population of Lautoka has grown rapidly, and in the last twenty years it has also changed dramatically in structure. In the early 1970s the population was estimated to...
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