A Chinese businessman has signed a deal with the Methodist Church to lease its hotel at Lotopa, with the businessman eyeing potential business during the Pacific Games in July.

 Businessman Jack Huang plans to renovate the facilities to accommodate some of the thousands who will flood Samoa during the Games.

Speaking to the Samoa Observer, Mr. Huang, owner of J&F Enterprises, said the lease for the hotel is only for a year. The lease commenced in July last year. 

“We are leasing it for $72,000 (tala) a year,” said Mr. Huang. 

“I think for the church it is best they lease it to us than have it stand there with no one using it. So I plan to renovate the hotel in May because it’s not in a good state when the current tenant is done with their rent.”

The current tenant is the Shanghai Construction Group. 

More than 100 Chinese employees of Shanghai are housed at the 32-room hotel. 

According to Mr. Huang, once Shanghai finishes their rent in May, he will renovate it and put it up for anyone looking for accommodations during the Pacific Games. 

“I also want to help host tourists and people coming in,” he explained. 

“I plan to develop the hotel for tourists and that is the long term plan. The hotel needs to be put out there to accommodate tourists especially once we start to have flights from China coming in we will have lots of tourists.”

Mr. Huang owns a construction company and the J & F building supplies at Lalovaea. 

At the moment, his construction company is working on new buildings at the Methodist compound in Faleula to host allocated countries for the Pacific Games. 

He is also supplying 1750 bunk beds and 3500 mattresses from China for the Games. 

About eight years ago, Mr. Huang made Samoa his home.  

Before he came to Samoa he used to have a travel agent business in American Samoa. 

It was not until he came to Samoa for a vacation that he decided it was the place to live.  

Two years ago, he bought a 2 acre piece of land at Vaitele for $1.6million from the National Bank of Samoa, just down the road from the Land Transport Authority. 

“I plan to stay here forever,” said the 50-year-old. 

“I like it here and I want to apply for my citizenship. It is a good place to live and have a business.”  

 The businessman employs 60 local workers and around 20 Chinese. 

He has a three storey house at Vaitele which his workers live in while he stays in another two storey house. 

Mr. Huang believes that many Chinese businesses in Samoa are crucial to the country’s development. For his business, he said it’s important to make building materials affordable and available for everyone.