[?]ke hay (at last!)

[?]estern Samoa could [?]ke hay (at last!)

Vith agricultural production

nanas, cocoa and copra) for 9’s first quarter giving the terri r its best returns in recent years, stern Samoa finally looks set to ike hay” this year, md with three major develop ital projects almost lined up— Potlatch timber deal, Savaii; up- Jing of Samoa’s airport and its ding, aged road to the capital, a; and a hydro-electric scheme for )lu—Samoa could have healthy iluses in the early 1970’5, ti addition, an internal air service Id kick off early next year, and , perhaps two, new luxury hotels established on Upolu. uch were the rosy thoughts of Fred Betham, Samoa’s affable lister for Finance, who was in ney for a busy week in April to Samoa’s economic plans to a top si conference of the newly-formed an Bank. )ptimistic on Samoa’s future, Mr. ham hopes loans from both this k and the United Nations telopment Programme, as well as jstment from overseas private jrprise, will be forthcoming to loit Samoa’s potential.

Jr. Betham doesn’t expect smooth 5 all the way, but he said the ire looked brighter now than at time since independence seven rs ago, and he’s been Finance lister in all that time.

Jr. Betham returned to Apia in ril with a notable prize—Mr. leshi Watanabe, president of the an Development Bank. The presi t made a three-day tour of Upolu. iamoa is after a loan from this ik to refurbish Upolu’s Faleolo itrip to take jets (Fokker F2B’s are : bet) and to upgrade the Faleolo ia road. The road, offering rists good views of Samoan village and local scenery, was built in -World War I German times and oday inadequate.

Hie bank stipulates that loan nies be spent on projects which 1 quickly give returns. Tourism a growing business in Samoa and . Betham and the Samoan Covena nt were hopeful that with Mr. itanabe getting a first-hand look, noa’s loan application might be iroved at an early date.

VJr. Betham said the Savaii timber )ject “should be started early next ir”. To comnlete the so-far

irtive channel-blasting operations

at Asau, a New Zealand con structor had been awarded a contract to finish the channel. Its work would start in June and finish about January, allowing big ships to enter.

Fill and waste from the channel construction would be used to build a 4,000 ft airstrip along the reef on Savaii, which should be operational early next year.

The Asau contract, worth SWS7OO,OOO, is with Wilkins and Davies of New Zealand.

The work will be financed by a SNZISO,OOO loan from New Zealand, an advance payment of $W5250,000 by Potlatch Forests Inc., for timber from Savaii forests, and 5W5330,000 from “unknown sources”.

The channel completion was originally supposed to have been accomplished in the 5W52,400,000 Asau harbour and wharf contract with Merrit - Tecon - Fletcher Con sortium.

A decision on just who will build a new hotel on the site of Apia’s aged Casino Hotel is due in late June. By then a prospectus for Samoans to finance a proposed gov ernment-controlled hotel will have closed. Although Mr. Betham didn’t say it, feeling in Apia is that in sufficient local money will have been found and so permission will be granted to Travelodge of Australia Ltd. to go-ahead on a Si million hotel of its own on the Casino site.

Travelodge are as keen as ever to get going in Samoa. By contrast, Intercontinental Hotels, a PanAm subsidiary, which took a hard look at Western Samoan hotel potential recently, have decided not to invest in Samoa. Intercontinental’s view is the territory’s political future is “un satisfactory”.

However, another American com pany does have plans for a hotel just outside Apia.