Description of study area

Fiji’s urban population reached 494,252 in 2017, an increase of 69,406 (16.3%) compared to 2007 \cite{fbos2017}. The count shows that 55.9% of Fiji’s population live in the Urban Areas, an increase of 5.1 percentage points compared to 2007. The population in the urban areas as shown in Fig. 1 is increasing at a rate of 0.6 percent since 2007 and from this urban population the city of Suva accounts for a population of over 87,000 people and is about 175,000 people when including the suburbs \cite{fbos2018}.  Apart from Suva, the city of Lautoka is the second largest city of Fiji. As shown in Fig. 2, the city is located in the west of the island of Viti Levu, 24 kilometres north of the town of Nadi where Fiji's International airport is located. The city of Lautoka lies in the heart of Fiji's sugar cane growing region and is also known as the sugar city in Fiji. Lautoka city covers an area of 16 square kilometers, has an estimated population of 52, 500 and is home to Fiji's largest sugar mill\cite{history}.