The completion of the $1.9million Loto Samasoni road and crossing project has been hailed by families at Ma’agao and Fa’atoia. They say the project will make life easier for them. 

An elderly mother at Ma’agao, Vao Fa’alau’au, said the road, which was officially opened on Friday morning, is something positive for the community.

“Now that this is opened, everything is easier and faster,” she said.

“We are not hesitant to walk into town when we need to because no longer are the days we have to go through the river. We can just cross over to Malifa and walk into town when there is no car available.”

The project was officially opened by Prime Minister, Tuilaepa Dr. Sa’ilele Malielegaoi.

The Loto Samasoni Bailey Bridge is the first of four to be funded by Australia at the cost of $2.6 million.

The project was completed by Kings Construction under the supervision of Land, Transport Authority and the Ministry of Works, Transport and Infrastructure.

“The construction of the Lelata bridge will begin, next year,” he said.

 “Therefore, in order to maintain smooth access and for our people to cross the Vaisigano river, the government has decided to construct another vital bridge crossing here at Loto Samasoni.”

Tuilaepa said the crossing would allow local residents to go directly from the four main Vaitele Street and Cross Island Road and help in distributing traffic and decreasing travelling time for citizens.

 “The new crossing will also enable local communities including students to nearby schools to cross the river safely and for some, shorter and easier.”

For Fa’alau’au, she said that all the homes along that road belong to one extended family and they all have children in school.

 “This family has so many children and they all take this route (Ma’agao to Malifa) to go to school,” she said.

“It is far to go around, so they usually went down to the river to cross over to Malifa. Right now we have children in Leifiifi College and they will now be able to safely cross over.”

Prior to the road developments, vehicles of the family took a longer road from Ma’agao and into Fa’atoia to get into main road to town.

But that is now a thing of the past.