The Lotofaga village is celebrating the commissioning of a water project, which also enabled the rehabilitation of the Matatufu water tank and the installation of an eight kilometre pipeline.

The project came under the auspices of the Samoa Water Authority [S.W.A.] and was officially opened on Thursday by Prime Minister Tuilaepa Dr. Sa'ilele Malielegaoi, witnessed by Cabinet Ministers, SWA employees as well as members of the Lotofaga community.

In his keynote address to mark the occasion, Tuilaepa thanked the village for supporting the project that enabled the work to be completed within 11 weeks. 

"I thank the village for their support as work was carried out. The work was carried out within 11 weeks where a pipeline was installed within the village," he said.

According to the Prime Minister, the project including the rehabilitation of the Matatufu Tank was implemented by local firm Bluebird Construction at the cost of $110,000 while the pipeline was installed by the S.W.A. at the cost of $370,000. 

Both projects were funded by the E.U Budget Support.

Tuilaepa emphasised that the opening of the project aligns with the vision of the S.W.A. to promote good and reliable water services and clean water to be available.

Lotofaga village representative, Tupuola Oloiali'i Koki Tuala, told the Samoa Observer in a phone interview that the village is very grateful to the Government for having the project completed.

"Now the majority of the village has benefited directly from the new source of water that we now receive," he said.

According to Tupuola, before the pipeline installation, their previous water source came from within the village and the village had its own ‘water committee’ who did inspections focusing on the use of water.

"Because the water source was not enough for the whole village, that is why we opted to receive water through the Samoa Water Authority," he added. "It's part of our awareness programme in our village to describe the importance of having clean water and that if something goes wrong the Government comes and repairs it and makes sure that there is clean and healthy water for everyone."

Reiterating that it is now the village's job to maintain the facility,  Tupuola said they have to make sure that nothing goes wrong with the water and the pipeline and make sure people pay their bills.

He further stated that the water committee in their village has been around for many years and they continue to carry out inspections.

The total cost of the project was $480,000 and will serve an estimated population of about 768 people.