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Community Briefs

FAGATOGO SEAWALL FINALLY GETS REPAIR JOB

 

The seawall that extends from behind the Fagatogo Marketplace to the Fono building is getting a long awaited makeover. After being severely damaged during the tsunami of 2009, work to restrengthen and rebuild the seawall has finally commenced.

 

The project addresses long standing concerns about the road giving way to erosion.

 

Samoa Maritime Construction is carrying out the work which is set to be completed in 90 days.

 

The project is being funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

 

The work is being carried out in an area that Fagatogo faipule Rep. Maugaoali’i Leapai Tusipa Anoa’i told Samoa News last month, will be included in the development of a board walk, to coincide with the playground/multi-use court that will eventually turn out to be a minipark between the Iseula boat shed and the Fagatogo Square.

 

The original contract for the seawall repair job was $98,000 but change orders that include the addition of another 25 feet of repairs has slightly increased that amount.

 

SAMOA TALKS POSTPONED YET AGAIN

 

The Inter-Samoa Summit, known to many as the Samoa Talks, has been postponed yet again, with the new date being June 27.

 

The Samoa Talks were tentatively scheduled to be held next week in Samoa but Acting Governor Lemanu Peleti Mauga announced during the cabinet meeting on Monday that the new date for the inter-Samoa talks is June 27. No explanation for the change of date was provided. (It should be noted that both the governor and Lemanu are to-date both off-island. )

 

The Samoa Talks were initially set for last year, Governor Lolo M. Moliga’s first year in office. But Lolo told reporters at the time that he needed more time to research certain issues that require detailed discussions, in addition to finding ways for both Samoas to benefit from the Summit.

 

Lemanu has urged all cabinet members to relay any issues they want to see raised during the Samoa Talks to Dept. of Commerce Director Keniseli Lafaele who will then relay them to the Governor and Lt. Governor.

 

PUBLIC WORKS CARRYING OUT CONSTRUCTION OF EOB IN MANU’A

 

An Executive Office Building for the Manu’a Islands is close to becoming reality, as employees from the Department of Public Works are carrying out the work in an area along the Ofu Airport.

 

The new structure will be similar to a two-story classroom building and will house different agencies including Public Works, DPS, the Dept. of Marine and Wildlife Resources and the Territorial Administration on Aging (TAOA) in Ofu and Olosega.

 

It is hopeful that the project will be fully completed in time for the Manu’a Flag Day celebrations.

 

Funding for the project comes from the Governor’s Office.

 

REV. FATHER VIANE ETUALE IS NOW A MONSIGNOR

 

Vicar General of the Diocese of Samoa Pago Pago, Rev. Father Viane Etuale will now be addressed as Monsignor, which is a designation granted by the Pope “to individuals who have rendered valuable service to the Church or who provide some special function in church governance, or who are members of bodies such as certain chapters.”

 

Monsignor Viane is currently the head of the Co-Cathedral Parish of St. Joseph the Worker in Fagatogo and is second in line to the Bishop in the chain of command for the Diocese of Samoa Pago Pago.

 

A former Director of Catholic Education, Monsignor Viane is currently a member of the Board of Higher Education.

 

Rev. Father Faitau Lemautu of Alao Parish told Samoa News that Monsignor Viane “deserves” to be addressed as a monsignor.

 

“Father Viane is one of the priests that have worked and built the local diocese for the past two decades and I am very honored to work with him,” Father Faitau said.

 

He explained that Monsignor Viane was his vocation director who worked with him during his years as a seminarian, which is the initial step to becoming a Catholic priest.

 

“Viane is a good priest,” Father Faitau said of the new Monsignor. “Hopefully he will become bishop someday.”