Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — “Right now the timeline from the contractor is August 2022” to complete the construction of the new two-story Fono building, says Senate legal counsel, Mitzie Jessop-Ta’ase during a meeting of senators on Tuesday with Senate President Tuaolo Manaia Fruean.

Tuaolo, who was scheduled to meet yesterday with Gov. Lemanu Peleti Palepoi Sialega Mauga regarding funding and others issues for the new Fono building project and offices for lawmakers, called the meeting after the Senate session to share information on the project.

Senators were given handouts from the architect for the project including the first blueprint of the project such as the current project with the building but without lawmakers’ offices, as well as the blueprint of the proposed offices for lawmakers to be built behind — on the oceanside — of the current Fono project.

Tuaolo informed senators that he planned to raise several questions during the meeting with the governor and this included how much money remains unspent for the project.

Jessop-Ta’ase, who was also the Senate legal counsel at the time the project was in the planning stage, more than two years ago, said that part of the handouts to senators included the blueprint of the original plan — the Fono building with offices for lawmakers.

However, as then-Gov. Lolo Matalasi Moliga was looking at funding and appropriate money available at the time, Lolo decided not to include lawmakers’ offices until such time as there were additional funds identified, said Jessop-Ta’ase.

(Samoa News points out that Lolo had spoken publicly about this issue saying that he continued to look for funding to build offices for lawmakers and that the building project is just the structure only.)

Responding to senators’ questions, Jessop-Ta’ase reiterated that the contract with Paramount Builders is for the Fono structure only without offices for lawmakers.

The first floor of the new structure, will have chambers for both the Senate and House and open space up to the ceiling on the second floor (similar to the old Fono building.)There are offices on first floor for senior Fono employees. Second floor has the gallery for each chamber for the public, along with offices of the Senate President and House Speaker.

Also on the second floor is a big conference room as well as smaller ones. There will be an elevator and stairs, but a private elevator in the back of the building is for the Senate President and House Speaker. Restrooms are also included.

As previously reported by Samoa News, construction of the multimillion dollar Fono building has been on hold since late 2018, following concerns raised by the US Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) that the structure is being built in a flood zone (VE Zone) and that “all new construction in this flood zone must be built using post and pier construction to elevate the lowest floor Base Floor Elevation (BFE), with no obstructions under the building.”

Sen. Utu Sila Poasa asked how many phases are there for the current project, to which Jessop-Ta’ase said the project is not set up in phrases but currently the contractor is laying out the foundation — which includes steel-piles to elevate the structure as required by FEMA because the project is in a flood zone.

Additionally, this same FEMA requirement will be used for planned construction of offices for lawmakers and ASG is “working with FEMA” to ensure there are no more issues with flood zone requirements as the project moves forward.

There were questions on the original contract for the project and Jessop-Ta’ase explained that original one was awarded for $13 million but Lolo believed that the price tag could be reduced to ensure sufficient funds for the project.

Therefore, Paramount Builders reduced the cost down to $10 million, which is the current contract for the building only, she explained.

Utu asked if there are change orders expected for the project or what is the total cost of the final project once completed for the building only.

“We don’t know the final cost yet, because some items were taken out of the original plan, in order to try to save costs. We know that we will have to come up with those funds in order to complete the full building,” was Jessop-Ta’ase’s reply.

For example, she said the parking lot was taken out of the contract to try to bring down the cost. “But we do know we need the parking lot. So we will have to review and discuss with the executive how to make these things happen,” she added.

Tuaolo said that the Senate Government Operations Committee is tasked with providing updates on this project and will probably hold a hearing later at which time Public Works, with its engineers will answer questions, particular on engineering and structure issues.

Among the issues the committee has sought so far from DPW is the cost of construction of offices for lawmakers.

It was at the end of the hearing that Tuaolo asked and Jessop-Ta’ase responded that the timeline from the contractor to complete the project is August 2022.

Several senators voiced their support to continue with the current construction of the Fono building, while at the same time start working on plans for offices for lawmakers so that when the new building is completed, so are the offices.