Tufuiopa residents told to pen concerns

By Elizabeth Ah-Hi 19 January 2018, 12:00AM

Residents living in close proximity to the Tufuiopa pool have been told to write a formal letter to the Acting C.E.O. of the Land Transport Authority regarding their concerns. 

A Senior Officer in the Road Operations division at the L.T.A., Jerome Ah-Mu, made this recommendation to the residents after their complaints about the road and the dangers of speeding vehicles along that stretch of road. 

On Tuesday, Tufuiopa pool resident, Winnie Heder, was fixing and replacing the damaged fence caused by last week’s incident which saw a car, driven by his nephew crashed into the pool. 

According to Mr. Heder, he had to fix or mend the fence several times out of his own pocket because of vandalism or cars losing control and crashing into the pool. 

He wants to make sure that the pool is protected from random thoroughfare.

“Some of the drivers come at night times – they are not allowed because sometimes they might come to the pool and drink there. Also some people come through and leave their rubbish during the night and that’s why I maintain the fence.

“The road is okay, it’s a bit too close to the pool.  

“But I think it’s the curve, if you look at the curve. Some of those big trucks coming down this road are a bit scary. Also if they are coming down fast from the Island Rock direction and then all of a sudden have to turn on this curve and straighten up again and then the wheel turns towards the pool and go out of control. They should put a bump on the road.”

But Mr. Heder also hopes that the road bumps will not only deter speeding, but also the thoroughfare of large trucks whose potential in creating more damage during a collision is a fear that the residents have. 

According to him, the heavy trucks are also causing the natural pump systems underneath the road to collapse. The decrease in water pressure means that the debris settles in the pool rather than being carried out to the sea.

 Mr. Ah-Mu suggests that as a solution, the L.T.A. can implement road bumps and signage to slow traffic down rather than uplifting the whole road. 

However he says, he highly recommends that the residential committee write a formal letter to the Acting C.E.O. outlining their concerns and requests.

“The Government needs to do something about this road. 

“There can sometimes be up to 20 people swimming in this pool; I think they will do something only when someone dies.

“Next week I will be going to a meeting with the committee and we need to act now because not only is it dangerous for us living here, the damage to the pool and the buildup of the rubbish in the channel between the pool and the river is unhealthy. It’s going to make it hard for everyone in the future to enjoy the pool like I did when I was younger.”

At this time, Mr. Ah-Mu has not received any such requests from the executive division of the L.T.A. on behalf of the Tufuiopa residents saying that if the residents opt out of writing a letter, they have the option of bringing up the issue with the maintenance division, but they had a lot of jobs and there could be a longer waiting period than if the residents wrote a formal letter to speed up the response. 

By Elizabeth Ah-Hi 19 January 2018, 12:00AM
Samoa Observer

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