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"Bulkhead Project” is a possible solution for new Fono building

Rendering of proposed new Fono Building
It is part of a Port Master Plan to enhance the town area
fili@samoanews.com

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — American Samoa has suggested to the US Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) the Department of Port Administration’s planned “Bulkhead Project” is a buffer to reduce the risk of wave surges to the new Fono building.

This was cited in Lt. Gov. Lemanu Palepoi Sialega Mauga’s Nov. 19 report to Gov. Lolo Matalasi Moliga, following meetings with Interior Department officials on Oct. 30 in Washington DC; and FEMA Region IX Administrator, Robert J. Fenton early last month in Oakland, California.

According to the report, the ASG delegation, which was led by Lemanu, mentioned to Fenton the “Bulkhead Project, which could buffer the wave surge and reduce the risk associated with the Fono building.

The report notes that FEMA had asked for this project design, for their review.

In his Aug. 20 letter, Fenton raised with the governor concerns over the new Fono building, which he says does not comply with federal regulations. He said it appears that the construction of the new Fono building is on a site that is in a Flood Zone VE, which is the “highest-risk flood zone, subject to damaging forces of high waves and high wind."

Responding to Samoa News questions, Port Administration director, Taimalelagi Dr. Claire Poumele explained that the Bulkhead is one of the over twenty projects outlined in the “Port Master Plan 1999-2019”.

The Bulkhead Project “would increase tie-ups for small boats, and provide additional parking places and a beautiful walkway along the Fagatogo shoreline. This project would enhance the Port area,” she said over the weekend.

Taimalelagi cited other projects in the Port Master Plan, which include the rebuilding of the Malaloa Pier and fishing slips — currently being designed;  reconstructing of the service wharf — completed in 2017; rehabilitating the old customs warehouse; berthing pier for cruise ships; container facility for the canneries; and repairing the container wharf, etc.

The 249-page Port Master Plan, of which the Final Report was released in February 2001 and compiled by Honolulu-based Lyons Associates Inc., — among other things — identifies insufficient space at the container yard in the Port of Pago Pago to store and handle all of American Samoa’s container needs and necessary improvements to the main port and to the land area around the Harbor.

Recommendation for Project #7, cited in the Port Master Plan, is to “construct a new bulkhead — in front of the Fono complex.”

According to the Plan, this project would renovate the existing wharf and provide backfill. The wharf could be used in conjunction with the proposed cruise ship pier for parking and small vessel traffic.

“The project would be used by local residents to tie up small boats,” according to the summary description of the project, which notes an estimated cost of $772,850 - at the time the Plan was released. It also says the project is an “important improvement for recreational boating and cruise ships."

The additional parking places, landscaping, and walkways are part of the overall upgrade for the Port, it says, adding that if the cruise ship pier is developed, this project is essential to providing a positive “first view of Pago Pago — and cruise industry representatives advise that the first impression is the lasting one."

And even without the cruise ship pier, this project is considered an important addition to Pago Pago, according to the project, which includes the following components:

• build a new bulkhead - 600 feet long - from existing ferry terminal to the drainage canal near the Fagatogo Market Place and about 50 feet from the present shore line;

• dredge to a depth of at least 12 feet;

• fill the area behind the bulkhead to develop a promenade area for the public. (The fill would be obtained from the dredging part of this project, and the proposed cruise ship pier).