More details are coming to light on the SAT$15 million Cross Island Road Project which was awarded to a Chinese State-owned company.

Early this month Prime Minister, Fiamē Naomi Mataʻafa confirmed that the contract for the project, which is funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), had been awarded to a Chinese firm.

She said the Cabinet had initially hoped that the contract could have been awarded to local construction companies but the funding agency had strict requirements, which made it tough for local firms to meet.

Last week the Minister of Works, Transport and Infrastructure, Olo Fiti Va'ai went on radio and told ET Live in an interview that the tender criteria for such big infrastructure projects in Samoa are set by the project’s financiers, either the ADB or the World Bank.

Echoing sentiments expressed earlier by Prime Minister Fiamē, he said no local companies met the tender criteria and refuted accusations that the current Government awarded the SAT$15 million contract to the Chinese state-owned company, China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC).

One of the requirements for companies to participate in the international bidding process, according to Minister Olo, is to have at least USD$5 million in their bank accounts.

He also added in his interview on ET Live that the USD$5 million criteria had been reduced to USD$2 million, in order to enable local content participation, but he said even the USD$2 million criteria is too high for interested local companies.

The radio interview by Minister Olo was a rebuttal to criticisms by the Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP) leader and suspended Lepa M.P. Tuilaepa Sa'ilele Malielegaoi, who told reporters earlier that the road project was approved by his government eight years ago and local companies could have benefited from it.

It was interesting reading the details of the tender criteria, which Minister Olo revealed during his interview. We believe most if not all Samoan construction companies don’t have access to that sort of capital. Using the latest foreign exchange rates, the USD$5 million would be equivalent to about SAT$13.5 million and the USD$2 million is about SAT$5.4 million. So which local Samoan construction company would have either SAT$13.5 million or SAT$5.4 million in capital to bid for the next project?

It appears the local construction companies will continue to miss out on bidding for big infrastructure projects in Samoa for as long as those tender criteria remain and we don’t see the status quo changing any time soon.

Perhaps, there are opportunities available in the SAT$15 million Cross Island Road Project, as a subcontractor to the CCECC? Both Prime Minister Fiamē and Minister Olo are pinning their hopes on the Chinese SOE engaging local contractors. 

"But there is a hope that local companies can be awarded sub-contracts for this project,” Prime Minister Fiamē said early this month.

But there is no guarantee that that will happen with the CCECC. Chinese government State-owned companies that were awarded infrastructure project contracts in Pacific Island Countries in recent years have a history of bringing in their own workers from China, denying the locals employment opportunities as well as inhibiting the transfer of skills to the local workforce.

However, the CCECC has won infrastructure contracts in Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu in recent years, and based on reports appears to have bucked the trend by recruiting locals to join their workforce. 

Maybe there is light at the end of the tunnel for the Cross Island Road Project, in terms of the recruitment of a local workforce. Perhaps, the door hasn’t closed completely on this proposition, for the CCECC to consider a local workforce. With the wheels of geopolitical power plays continuing to turn, especially with the recent arrival in Apia of Qian Bo, China's Special Envoy for Pacific Island Countries Affairs, there is an opportunity for further dialogue to come to an amicable solution.