About 20 people, mostly from the village of Fagatogo, attended the Department of Port Administration’s town hall meeting Wednesday night to gather input on the Vision 2030 for development of the airport and seaports.
Port Administration Director Barney Sene, who led the townhall, said at the start that this was a vision and the plans being proposed are not set in stone. In its notice about the town hall meetings, Port Administration had recommended that members of the public visit the Vision 2030 website for an idea of the development plans being proposed. Sene invited those present to express any concerns they have so he could address them first.
Virginia Mailo of Fagatogo said her main concern was the removal of the Fagatogo boat house.
Port Administration plans to build a new inter-island ferry terminal and mid size ferry vessel piers with terminal buildings in the area between Tedi of Samoa and the Fagatogo market place. Sene said he wanted to first explain the thinking that went into the planning. 
He elaborated that the inter-island dock can only serve one vessel at a time…when the boat from Samoa is here, they cannot load a boat for Manu’a. The Fono leaders had also raised concerns about the present location of the inter island dock as fuel is loaded there and its close proximity to the new Fono Building posed a safety issue.
He also mentioned that when an earthquake occurred in Russia last year, there was inundation around the Tedi of Samoa building. Also with the push to bring Coast Guard cutters to be based here, when Port Administration met with the Coast Guard to discuss the type of port facilities they would need, they said they needed a dedicated area to park their cutters. He said the main dock was too exposed to park the Coast Guard vessels.
The director also pointed out that the main dock was collapsing and container ships are not able to dock there. It’s only used now by cruise ships. The service wharf also needs to be expanded and made secure for the arrival of new ferry boats, and new Landing Craft Units.
Sene explained that the seafront area behind Tedi of Samoa would need to be filled by 100 feet and the road raised about 4-6 feet. The seawall would also be raised which Sene said would present a challenge to launch the Fagatogo fautasi if its left at its current location.
The director said whatever is displaced would be replaced. One option he put out for Fagatogo to consider was to have a boat house over the water in the Malaloa area, which Port Administration would build.
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Virginia Mailo was emotional about yet another part of their village being taken away by the government.
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Bill Woo Ching of the Faagata family said removing the Fagatogo boat house was not an option.
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Fagatogo Representative Malaeoletalu Melesio Gurr said Fagatogo had given up so much for the benefit of the whole territory, but was not getting just reward.
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Sene responded that the plans would return to the engineering board.
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