Scattered garbage from tipped over rubbish pins in public locations popular with overseas visitors around Apia during the holiday season raised health and image concerns.
By Staff Writer
The scene of rubbish bins tipped over in public places, fired up several complaints, most notably during the recent recent session of Parliament.
Concerned MPs worried about scattered garbage giving the Apia township not just a poor image but an unhealthy one.
Popular visitor locations like the Mulinu’u Peninsula was singled out as a worrying example and many were curious to know why it was left neglected.
“Does it have anything to do with cuts in the Samoa Tourism Authority budget,” Satupaitea MP Lautafi Selafi Purcell asked.
“ We cannot afford to see this around Apia especially when the CHOGM meeting we’re hosting this year is underway, it’ll give a poor image of Samoa to the world.”
The Minister of Tourism, Toeolesulusulu Cedric Schuster, was quick to give assurances that his Ministry is on top of the problem.
“ The problem had to do mainly with the rubbish collection contractors not working during the holidays,” Toeolesulusulu explained.
“We’ve now amended the agreements for contractors to include these non working periods.”
The Minister added that the budget cuts in place was to save on procurement costs for the Ministry already covered through donor assistance.
Uncollected rubbish became more noticeable during the long holiday season and according to Toeolesulusulu, the surge in the number of overseas visitors is mostly responsible.
“The jump in the number of people on holiday breaks with families, the rubbish tended to pile up quicker, and spilled over before the normal , weekly scheduled collection date.”