By Staff Writer
The opening up of the Vaiusu Bay as the second port for Apia is to play a central role in a notable township shift that started to take clear shape in Parliament session last Friday.
A general understanding emerged that the construction of the Vaiusu Wharf is what will set off a domino effect of major developments to transform the whole area from Mulinu’u all the way out to the Vaitele industrial zone.
The bigger picture emerged from Anoama’a MP Fonotoe Lauofo, who spoke in support of the relocation of the Flea Market to the Sogi area towards the Fugalei-Mulinu’u direction.
Fonotoe fully approved of the new Flea Market location and how it will encourage the commercial sector to grow around the area,
“It means we will need to do some reclaiming of land from Mulinu’u, Sogi and out to Fugalei,” the Anoama’a MP raised in his address of the Supplementary Budget debate.
He was aware that some of the Fugalei mangrove maybe affected but it will have to weighed up against the huge commercial benefits from the township growth.
The Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, agreed to the need for a lot of upgrade work in the area, but was quick to note that the mangrove will not be affected by the location of the wharf.
“The channel from the mouth of the harbour will more towards the western side of the bay so it will not affect the mangrove area,” he interjected in response to MP Fonotoe.
Tuilaepa is confident also there will be little harm to the environment from the risks of any oil spills by tankers anchored inside the harbour.
“ By the next 5 years Samoa will rely mainly on renewable energy from hydro electricity, solar and wind power.
“We are also moving towards electric cars in the future so our dependence on diesel and engine fuel will be minimal.”
The PM shed added light to development plans for a new road to run along the mangrove area and the upgrading of the roads in place already to cater for the Flea Market demands.
“The network of roads will include one running from the TATTE compound and Hotel Kitano Tusitala,” Tuilaepa explained.
“ We will also have to upgrade the roads along Fugalei and widened them to cater for the huge volume of traffic that is starting to give us a lot of traffic jam issues.
“I am being forced to call for a police escort in the morning to make my way to Parliament through the Fugalei Road because of the long lines of cars.”
There were other areas of infrastructure development that he said Government has to look ahead to because of the fast growth in other sectors.
The shifting of the commercial activities to the Vaitele industrial area and further inland to Tafaigata, Tuaefu and beyond promises to be a better location with higher elevation.
Climate change already created many weather related problems for an increasingly flood prone central Apia Township.
