LAND BUYING WORRY : Opposition leader Tuilaepa in Parliament, anxious at the loss of land ownership to wealthy naturalised Samoan buyers.
By Staff Writer
Wealthy buyers dangling unbelievable amounts of money to purchase small freehold land in Samoa raised alarm bells inside Parliament today.
Opposition leader, Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, gave warning in response to a House Committee report on the granting of Samoan citizenship to naturalised foreigners.
His worries are the limited number of freehold land at risk of being snapped up by rich buyers even if they have taken up Samoan citizenship.
Tuilaepa took particular note of how Government land were subdivided and sold to people who live in rural villages far out of the Apia township including the big island Savaii.
“Many of the lands were sub-divided into quarter acres in areas west of Apia like Vaitele-uta and Siusega-uta and at Vaitele and Letogo on the eastern side of the township,” he recalled.
“These land properties sold for around $3,500 a quarter acre at the time.”
Tuilaepa is alerted by reports of wealthy foreigners with Samoan citizenship making incredible land buying offers including one that reportedly went up to one million tala.
The opposition leader would like to see conditions in place to control the sale of freehold land even if to foreigners who are now naturalised Samoans.
He would also like to see a limit on the number of land for these wealthy land buyers to buy.
“We have to be wary because we don’t have a lot of land and people who sell their properties could end up with nowhere to live on with their families.”
Customary land is not a worry for Tuilaepa because they are well protected.