Dear Editor,

Re: When Cyclone Gita exposes more than it should 

Interesting editorial I thought. Smart people learn from their mistakes, like after Evan the T.A.T.T.E. building was damaged and engineers were called in to assess.

Their first request was for the building’s plans, only to be told there were none.

If we keep Hocking our country’s future for cheap and shiny white elephants on the Chinese credit card, we will continue to end up with crumbling, useless buildings that we are yet to pay off.

The conference building is less than 10 years old and is already out of action with another 10 years of loan repayments left and no spare budget to fix it.

The Chinese contractors will not warranty their shoddy work, so the government has only 2 options;

1. Don’t fix it because they don’t have the money to do so and really the ROI isn’t there to justify taking conferences and other events away from the big hotels anyway.

2. Go looking for aid or loans to fund it’s repair, taking funds away from those poor Samoans that need essential services, such as water, Power and safe roads to their lands.

Either way, Samoa still has to pay off the old debts, so it’s a no win situation for us here in Samoa. 

While our newest best friends, the Chinese EXIMBANK and contractors are back home in China counting their tala. It’s the way the world works.

Hautini