Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Samoa Government returns land set aside for town on Savaii

Posted at 08:22 on 30 August, 2005 UTC

The Samoa Government has returned more than a thousand hectares of customary land to the village of Salelologa on Savaii island.

The Samoa Observer reports that the government is now seeking to have a 16 million US dollar compensation claim by the villagers over the land struck out.

But a lawyer representing Salelologa, Toleafoa Solomona Toailoa, says his clients will press ahead with claims for additional compensation.

A proclamation by the Head of State acquiring 12 hundred hectares for the establishment of a new town Salelologa has been annulled.

In a new proclamation the government has registered around two hundred hectares of customary land for the new town.

The government has already paid nearly one and a half million US dollars to the village for some of the land.

Toailoa says the Salelologa chiefs intend to continue with their claim for fair compensation for the land which government has retained.