Solomon Islands is on the verge of losing a Japanese International Cooperation Agency funding of more than SBD$250 million dollars to improve water and sanitation in Honiara because a particular landowning party refused to sign the agreement.

JICA residential representative, Yoshinobu Takishita, said his organization has been waiting for two years to implement the project but still no tangible conclusion is reached between the government and landowning groups.

Mr Takishita said, if the current land related problems persist, JICA will "pull its funding from Solomon Islands and give it to other countries where there is no land dispute."

He said the outcome of a recent meeting between the government and landowning groups will be the basis of the final decision regarding the SIWA project.

He said JICA cannot sit on this huge funding for ever, as other countries stand ready to welcome such a project.