The niggling infrastructure woes seen in places like Fugalei, Moamoa and Sapapalii are a combination of poor planning, neglect and failure to focus on capital works. We are now seeing the results.

The Fugalei or Tropicana Bridge looks as if it will fall any minute. It looks fragile and damaged, probably from withstanding the years of battering at the hands of the elements. The residents have called for urgent action. They want the bridge repaired or a new one to replace it. Similarly, residents in Moamoa are tired of constantly being stuck or being landlocked each time there is heavy rain.

The people in Savaii know too well to avoid the Sapapalii route when the heavens are pouring. Their call for a bridge has been there for decades. Then there are the potholes, poor drainage that cause flooding, lack of access to water and electricity and poor roads that restrain transportation services. These are the things that are impacting communities throughout the nation. On their own, each of these issues affects a smaller community, collectively, they represent a national issue.

Firstly, it is a reflection on poor infrastructure planning and maintenance. It shows that no thought was put when constructing such infrastructure to allow for future expansion. It also indicates a lack of maintenance. The whole of Apia is an example of this. The issue has been pushed back for so long that now it has become a near-impossible task. Before further development takes place, the solution needs to be present; otherwise, a decade later, these same problems will persist.

Compounding these developments are the land claims when major infrastructure works are proposed. Why is that no solution has been forthcoming when clearly, the problem persists? It has been there for almost half a century. Yet, the present government will blame the past, and the past will call the present inactive to deal with the issues. Can we get away from the blame game and just deal with these problems? The longer we wait, the worse they become.

Moving from a national perspective to the community level, rightfully, members of parliament for these areas need to acknowledge that they have not done enough. Even with the million tala grants, such issues are still there. Apolima’s broken wharf, the deteriorating roads in most villages, the lack of drainage, upgrading of small bridges, water systems to ensure cleaner and continuous supply and access to public transportation are some of the things that could have been done with the grant. Instead, it has been used elsewhere, and the financial reports detailing its use are being kept a secret.

MPs make the trip to their constituencies, if they do, mostly hold talks with the district councils. How many MPs go to individual villages in their constituencies and note down their infrastructure needs and work on them?

The Fugalei situation is a preview of what could go wrong in the future. The nation has the help of expertise from the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, sister cities in China and, as usual, our traditional partners in Australia and New Zealand. With the right approach, we can have an infrastructure master plan that will have us ready for growth for at least 30 years. The nation is growing. With it is the demand for urban centres and better-planned neighbourhoods.

Infrastructure development has to be multi-faceted. While we make new roads, we should also be making drainage and changing the power poles at the same time. Such capital developments must be done with more thought. Not that we make the road, then after two years we dig up the road again to lay underground cables, either for electricity or telecommunications.

There is so much to be done, and we are hoping that the government is working with international partners to draw up a master plan for such infrastructure developments. The master plan is needed because the principles for resilient infrastructure describe a set of principles, key actions, and guidelines to create national scale net resilience gain and improve the continuity of critical services such as energy, transport, water, wastewater, waste, and digital communications, which enable health, education, etc. to function effectively.

Let’s plan better and make things better for all Samoans.