Salei’a villagers celebrate

02 August 2016, 12:00AM

The villagers of Salei’a in Savai’i celebrated the official opening of the Embankment Wall and Bridge last week.

The village in the district of Gagaemauga No. 2 is located near the coast and lies beside a river originating from the Vaipouli catchment area. 

The village faces a high risk to river flooding and sea level rise. 

The construction of the Salei’a River Embankment Wall and new Bridge aims to protect both the community and the village and government assets that are vulnerable to the adverse effects of Climate Change such as coastal erosion sea level rise and flooding. 

The bridge has been upgraded with four open culvert drains to release the water to the sea without overflowing and covers the village. 

Carried out by Apia Lua Company Ltd , the cost of the project was $2,334, 865.50. 

The design and the supervision of works was carried out by engineering firm; Tinai and Gordon Associates Ltd. The construction started in June 2015 and was successfully completed in July 2016.

 The Adaptation Fund Project is a Donor to developing countries and Small Island developing states (S.I.D.S) providing assistance and funding for climate change adaptation and resilience initiatives. 

The Adaptation Fund (A.F) ‘Enhancing Resilience to Climate Change’ project provides a holistic and country-wide approach to climate change and it is also served to implement the C.I.M strategy in Samoa. 

One of the AF project outcomes is to “increase the ability of coastal communities to adapt to risks and danger caused by climate change”. 

Three quarters of Samoa’s population resides along the coastal, an area highly susceptible to erosion, high sea level rise and flooding.  Infrastructure and utility services are also located in these coastal zones and are also extremely vulnerable to intense climate events.

02 August 2016, 12:00AM
Samoa Observer

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