American Samoa Power Authority CEO Utu Abe Malae expressed disappointment over the continuous breakdown of the MV Sili during a hearing before the House of Representatives last week, suggesting a Public Private Partnership would be the best solution for Manu’a’s ongoing transportation issues. 

Utu said that he believes that even if Manu’a receives a second boat, it will not solve Manu’a’s transportation problems. He said the boat should be operated by a private business — one that is willing to abide by rules implemented by the US Coast Guard.

According to Utu, allowing a private business to be in charge of transportation to Manu’a will benefit everyone, as that business will do everything to abide by the rules, while at the same time they will be keen to make a profit from this business, and will keep the boat operating.

Utu told Samoa News that a PPP would bring the strengths and risk-taking abilities of the government and a private company to bear on the operation of this critical service.

He said, “What does government provide?  It provides the boat, the crew, the wharf, and the backing of the government.”

“The private company provides commercial know-how, operations knowledge, a sense of urgency, preventive maintenance and accountability. A private company won't be in business long if it allows its crews to damage the boat repeatedly,” he said.

Utu explained that many businesses and much government assistance have been provided to keep the MV Sili operations going, including the engine that was provided by ASPA to keep the vessel functional. He further pointed out that Fletcher Construction has also assisted with the maintenance of the MV Sili.

He said that when the MV Sili breaks down “it’s not because of ASG, but its people who are operating the boat” — and then ASG has to look for money to fix the boat.”

According to Utu, there have been meetings for the past two years with Port Administration over this issue, yet to date the MV Sili is still running into problems.

He explained that ASPA has many loads that need to be taken to Manu’a for ongoing projects, but their work is stalled because the MV Sili is broken again. Utu said ASPA has a contract with Port Administration for the MV Sili to take ten trips to Manu’a, however the trips have been stalled due to the breakdown of the boat, which is why they have had to reach out to the Samoa Shipping Corporation (SSC).

He said that initially ASPA was to pay $42,000 to the SSC, however after negotiations between SSC and ASPA, the bill was lowered to $24,000, and they are expected to have their shipment taken over this week by the Fotu-o-Samoa.

Efforts to get comments from Port Administration on the status of the Sili— as to why it broke down— were unsuccessful as of press time.