The staff of the Samoa Land Corporation is scheduled to relocate to the Vaitele market tomorrow. The relocation will allow its $4.25million Faleata headquarters to be transformed into a hotel.
The Corporation on the other hand will use the largely unused second floor of the Vaitele market. The second floor was initially built for flea market stalls and office space for rent.
When the Sunday Samoan visited the place yesterday, the stalls are no longer there. They have been replaced by several offices painted in white and green.
Carpenters were also frantically fixing windows, the ceiling and the walls. One of the carpenters told the Sunday Samoan it’s highly unlikely that the place would be ready for tomorrow.
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“They want to move in but it’s not even ready yet,” he said. “It was short notice so we are trying our best working after hours to make sure the office is completed by Monday.”
“But you take a look around and you will see that there is a lot of cleaning up that needs to be done and we will be back here on Monday to finish off.”
At the old Faleata headquarter yesterday, only a few staff members were shifting furniture on the truck to be taken to Vaitele.
A staff member, who is not authorised to speak to the media, said the office started its relocation on Friday.
“We started moving things on Friday to the new place,” said the staff member.
“There is a lot of equipment that are here that we haven’t taken to the new space.
“We are taking some of the furniture at the moment but other equipments would have to wait until the office is ready…we are not sure if will be opening on Monday that depends on the guys working at the market.”
According to RNZI report, only one Chinese business partner has put in a tender for the sale of the S.L.C head office at Tuanaimato.
Tender has been closed and a decision is yet to be made on the bid.
Earlier last month, Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi revealed the government’s plan to turn the multi million tala S.L.C building at Tuanaimato into a hotel.
Tuilaepa said the decision that was made by the new Minister of Public Enterprises Lautafi Fio Purcell was supported by him.
“The government’s vision is to run it like a business,” Tuilaepa said. “Running it like a business will generate income to finance the government budget.”
Tuilaepa said Minister Lautafi saw the potential for the government to generate revenue from the building at Tuana’imato so he asked the Corporation to move to the second floor of the Vaitele market.
Opened a few years ago, the $5.7 million market, built by S.L.C, includes an expansive crops hall, a fish market that’s never been used as well as several shops that are empty.
According to a Report of the Controller and Chief Auditor, Fuimaono Camillo Afele to the Legislative Assembly, S.L.C fell $11million short of its revenue forecasts for the 2009-2010 Financial Year.
The report also highlighted that the Corporation overspent by $2.4 million, and paid $2.8 million to a “middle man” based in New Zealand.
“The Corporation did not achieve its budgeted revenue,” says Fuimaono’s report.
“Actual revenue was $11 million short of the budgeted revenue for the year.”
“The Corporation overcommitted to other projects which it could not fund,” the report reads.
The government’s plan though has already received criticisms from accommodation providers within the vicinity of Tuana’imato.
Some of them who spoke to the Sunday Samoan on the condition of anonymity said the government is tripping all over the place.
“So in one breath they ask the private sector to develop our properties and then in the very next breath they try to kill us,” says one business owner. “This is yet another classic case of the government competing with the private sector.”
“In the case of the S.L.C, they’ve already done that at Malifa with that new building they’ve just completed. And here they are doing it again here in Tuanaimato.”
“There are many accommodation providers in the area who are already struggling with poor occupation rates.”
Another accommodation provider agrees.
“It’s just sad,” she says. “So they are found to have mismanaged and abused public funds and now we the people who are paying taxes will have some of our business taken away because the government is opening a hotel in the area.”
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