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Pago Pago – American Samoa
The Christian Church of American Samoa (EFKAS) has rejected the government’s offer to buy five acres of land in Ottoville, where the Naumati Forest is located, for $2.1 million.
The land is located across the street from the Mission Headquarters in Tafuna (New Canaan) and is part of the 27 acres of forest (Naumati) that is now preserved in Tutuila. The entire 27 acres was owned by the Halleck family, but they sold 5 acres to EFKAS.
According to Archie Soliai, Director of Marine Resources and Forestry (DMWR), the Halleck family has confirmed the purchase of 22 acres of land.
On Wednesday, the American Samoa government sent a request to EFKAS to purchase five acres of land to prevent deforestation or construction of structures.
The DMWR said in a public statement that the price of the land/forest (Naumati) is $425,000 per acre, making the total offer $2,167,000.
It also shows that DMWR submitted a “project proposal” to the “Forest Legacy” program to fund the purchase of five acres of land from EFKAS and 22 acres of land from the Halleck family.
The meeting was attended by the Honourable Deputy Governor, the late La’apui EV Ale, senior government officials and members of the Harlek family.
The church has more than 600 members from Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii and American Samoa.
In his speech that day, the director acknowledged that protecting the forest would bring many benefits. After Mr. Taotas spoke, he began to ask questions.
A New Canaan representative who requested not to be named told Samoa News that many church members wanted to ask questions but were stopped by the EFKAS president, who ended the meeting for the day.
Before leaving the government, the Hon’ble Lt Governor spoke and reiterated the importance of protecting and conserving this land/forest (Naumati) for the future children.
He also mentioned that the church could not make plans on site. And the representative young people from New Canaan revealed that the large number of people attending the gathering was because of the speech of the government leader. A senior pastor from Hawaii stood up and asked the respected deputy governor what he meant when he said that the church could not make plans on its own land? Goodbye La’apui replied, that’s it.
The chairman again withheld further information and the meeting ended with the government leaders dismissed while church members mediated the issue.
The representative said church members discussed the issue for more than an hour and most agreed that the church should not purchase the land. The matter was voted on and the church agreed to keep the church assets. Despite offering a large amount of money, no one voted to sell the land to the government.
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