No StarKist Cold Storage at Shipyard Says Governor

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After months of negotiations between ASG and Starkist Samoa for space at the marine railway at Satala to build cold storage for the cannery, Governor Lolo Moliga has directed that the railway space be left alone while an alternative site be offered to StarKist.

The governor told KHJ News yesterday that it didn’t make sense for the government to be investing in the shipyard and then turn around and lease a portion of the space for non shipyard related activity.

The Ronald Reagan Marine Railway is receiving bond money for construction of a new building that will house a new office and different workshops for the shipyard.

It also underwent a slipway upgrade a few years ago.

Under ASG’s Capital Improvement Project plans, the shipyard is also to receive $10 million in funding for the next few years.

The governor suspects that the Department of Interior would question the wisdom of reducing the shipyard area and leasing it to the cannery, after the government has made significant investment in the facility.

Lolo said he has communicated this to the ASG officials who have been negotiating with StarKist Samoa, but he didn’t say whether the cannery has been notified officially.

The governor is proposing ASG land across the road, for the StarKist cold storage.

He said the space is part of the old ASPA power plant in Satala and its become available with the completion of ASPA’s new power plant.

Starkist’s request for space to build cold storage was first made during the Togiola Faoa administration.

Present storage capacity for the cannery would last five days at current production levels.

Lolo said the government has to make the best use of its assets and it just didn’t make sense to him that ASG pours money into the shipyard then reduces the size of the facility by leasing space to the cannery.

He said he understands the cannery’s need for additional storage space and hopes the cannery will accept the alternative site.

The governor did not offer an explanation as to why the administration hadn’t brought this up before but waited until after months of lease negotiations.

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