The Samoa Land Corporation’s $4.4million headquarters at Tuanaimato is on the market once again. 

This was confirmed by the Minister of Public Enterprises, Lautafi Fio Purcell, during an interview with the Samoa Observer.

Government has been looking for a tenant to rent the abandoned building since 2014. Since then, there have been several attempts at locking down a good tenant.

But nothing has materialised.

 “The Committee that the government appointed to deal with the Hope for Cancer has been disbanded. This happened when the organization contacted us to give them more time,” Lautafi said.

Hope for Cancer is a foreign group which the government had offered the building to.

But the delay in their plans meant the government needed to move on.

 “That means that there’s no need for the three C.E.O.s appointed by the government to work with them (Hope for Cancer),” said Lautafi.

“We can find another space for them when they come and whatever they want."

He said one of the reasons for the delay was that they need more time to plan. 

"So we've already contacted them (Hope for Cancer) that we’ve let the building go so we could look into other developments to make use of the facility.”

For now, the Minister said there is interest from few organisations like F.A.O., Peace Corps and others.

 “That’s why we are continuing with this process as usual,” he said about the building being tendered. “So if anyone wants it, there’s a chance to submit a proposal.

 “The Samoa Land Corporation is working on it (re-advertisement) now. When it’s finished, then we’ll advertise it again.”

He went on to say that “better planning” is what the government is looking at. 

“The fact is – we can never foretell what happens next but we can minimise whatever problems that involve the government," he said.

“We need to work carefully on due diligence, business plans, you know, like - what kind of designs of project(s) to meet businesses and people's needs." 

He said this was a good strategy to prepare for any problems that might arise in the future. 

“There are unavoidable risks but at last...we can calculate it."

He said there was no need for a professor to come and work out a solution for whatever the problem might be. 

"Once we look at it then automatically we know how to deal with it through ‘tofa fetu’utu’una’i’“.

The Corporation vacated the Tuanaimato premises in 2014 and have since moved their offices to the top floor of the Vaitele Market.