Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

American Samoa politician expresses concern about military relocation delay

Posted at 22:28 on 23 December, 2009 UTC

American Samoa politician Aumua Amata says delays in the relocation of 8,000 U.S. Marines from Okinawa to Guam will affect the processing of construction jobs on Guam for which hundreds of local Samoans have made applications.

According to Amata, the Prime Minister of Japan has indicated he needs a "few more months" to review the agreement made by the U.S. and the previous Japanese administration.

However, if he decides to make changes, they would have to be further reviewed by the U.S. government and that process could take a year or more.

For the past several months, Aumua has worked closely with Professional Personnel International, a company that is looking to provide high quality workforce housing and full-service care and logistics to successful contractors who receive project awards from the Department of Defense.

care provider.

The congressional legislation authorizing and appropriating the military construction was recently signed into law by President Obama.