American Samoa Power Authority CEO Utu Abe Malae told Samoa News over the weekend that ASPA is currently working on two water projects that will benefit both ASPA and the community.

The Masefau Concrete Road Project begins next week, on Oct. 14. This is an existing service road to Well #241 & Well #242; the road is in poor condition and is not passable during heavy rains. However Utu said 2800 linear feet of new concrete road will be constructed in place of the existing dirt road.

“This project will help ASPA water operators to facilitate the transport of chlorine to the wells, and enable ASPA crew to access the wells for maintenance.” The ASPA CEO explained that this road would also benefit residents of Masefau who live in the area.

Utu further stated that this project was put out to bid and Happy Trucking Construction Company won the bid and was awarded the contract in the amount of $214,000. This project is funded with local funds.

The second water project ASPA is working on is the Government Housing Waterline Replacement Project in Tafuna. It has been awarded to Tony's Construction in the amount of $853,333. This project is funded by the Department of Interior.

“The project will replace approximately 11,000 linear feet of old galvanized and asbestos cement (AC) water pipes that are leaking extensively, causing chronic low water pressure in the area and contributing to high water loss in the system.” Utu said construction for this project will begin once the materials arrive on island, which the contractor estimates to be in December.

Utu confirmed that one of the challenges faced by local contractors is their inability to provide performance bonds acceptable to the granting agencies. In response to Samoa News queries he said that — for whatever reason — contractors are not submitting bids that are responsive; in other words, they are not answering questions asked in the bid documents.