Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Two resilience projects in Manu’a and expansion of the Pago Pago International Airport runway are being funded by the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), according to the White House’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law update Fact Sheet on American Samoa released Feb. 8, which also includes an update on BIL federal funding for states and other territories.

The BIL Fact Sheet update is released monthly, and Samoa News identified only three projects that are new for American Samoa - as compared to previous updates and are labeled “project spotlight” in the document for February 2023.

Under the subtitle, “Resilience Project Spotlight” the Fact Sheet provides a brief overview of projects in Manu’a. It says that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers awarded $250,000 for a storm damage reduction and resilience project on Ofu Island.

In addition, the Army Corps also awarded $50,000 to complete a feasibility study for a resilience project for Ta’u Harbor.

Samoa News wasn’t immediately able to obtain additional information on these two Manu’a projects.

Regarding the “Airport Infrastructure Project Spotlight”, the Fact Sheet update states that the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration awarded more than $1 million for runway rehabilitation at the Pago Pago International Airport.

“The investments will help to modernize the airport’s infrastructure and provide a better experience for airlines and passengers,” it says.

The Fact Sheet also states that, to date, $49.7 million in BIL funding has been announced and is headed to American Samoa.

And since the BIL passed, American Samoa is set to receive approximately $11.6 million for transportation to invest in roads, bridges, public transit, ports and airports and roughly $31 million for clean water.

This is similar to summary information provided in previous Fact Sheets, the latest released publicly on the White House website (www.whitehouse.gov).

The Fact Sheet update comes at the same time that the Biden-Harris administration announced new efforts to reduce the financial burden on the U.S. territories of American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam and U.S. Virgin Islands.

The new efforts require waiving the local cost share for grants under $200,000 for the insular areas for all federal agencies and departments.

For local matching funds $200,000 and greater, federal agencies and departments may waive the matching requirement for these four territories.

According to the White House, the new waiver requirement will help ensure U.S. territories have the investments they need to develop a long-term plan to facilitate conservation, resiliency and economic growth.

In his written testimony last week to the U.S Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, Gov. Lemanu P.S. Mauga acknowledged with appreciation critical funding for American Samoa under the BIL, which he says also presented major challenges due to the non-federal local matching requirements outlined in the legislation.

“This requirement disadvantaged our Territory. Due to our small populations and the struggling local economy, it is difficult to meet these matching requirements,” he said.

The governor noted the U.S Interior Department has granted a wavier of all matching requirements for the insular areas. And this waiver opened up major funding opportunities for American Samoa.

“We continue to ask for waivers for other federal funding grantors to alleviate the matching burdens on U.S. Territories and ask for your assistance in waiving current matching requirements and eliminating that requirement in future legislation,” Lemanu informed the Congressional committee.

Lemanu also said that American Samoa “needs your assistance to modernize and rebuild our transit systems, roads, bridges, seaports, and airports to make them more accessible, affordable, and sustainable.”