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Groundbreaking for new Fono building set for today, Aug. 15, 2018

Rendering of proposed new Fono Building
Bid awarded to Paramount Builders
blue@samoanews.com

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The proposed new two-story Fono Building will be constructed by Paramount Builders with groundbreaking set for Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2018. The structure will be erected at the site of the old Fono Building, which was demolished last year.

Only two companies placed bids for the multi-million-dollar project: Paramount Builders and Fletcher Construction.

Paramount bid nearly $13 million while Fletcher's bid was around $20 million. The lower of the two bids was selected but negotiations ensued as there were issues that had to be resolved, one of them being, that both bids were over the amount of funding for the job.

Samoa News understands that Paramount has agreed to move forward with the project, although available funding is only $10 million at this time.

The groundbreaking ceremony for the new building is set for today at 10 a.m.

Governor Lolo, during his recent cabinet meeting, said this is an important project and he expects all cabinet members to attend today's ceremony where, "we will lay out the plan for construction of the new building."

The old Fono building was demolished by Paramount last year and a 'mass excavation' of the area was carried out to "stabilize" the ground so the foundation is solid enough to hold the weight of the new proposed structure.

Samoa News spoke to an official from Paramount yesterday, who indicated that the project will take two years to complete.