Pacific Magazine > Magazine > February 1, 2002
Business Briefs
Business Briefs
American Samoa
The federal government is sharpening its focus as it readies for the April trial in Honolulu of Kil Soo Lee, former owner of Daewoosa Samoa, and two of the company’s Samoan managers. U.S. attorneys filed a new set of charges against Lee, Virginia Soliai and Robert Atimalala in December in Honolulu. The new indictment reaffirms allegations that the Daewoosa trio conspired to violate the rights of Chinese and Vietnamese workers, extort their money, and hold them in involuntary servitude.
Samoa
Samoa’s only producer of beer and soft drinks posted a net profit of $2.1 million for its financial year ending June 30, 2001, according a company statement released in late November. Besides the popular Vailima beer, Samoa Breweries Ltd. produces other beer brands and soft drinks such as Fanta, Sprite and Coca Cola.
Marshall Islands
The Marshall Islands government has extended the American Samoa Power Authority (ASPA) contract to manage Ebeye Island’s power plant and related infrastructure operations for two more years. Asian Development Bank project manager Robert Muller said that ASPA has done a tremendous job in not only stabilizing electricity distribution on Ebeye, but also addressing numerous other utility and infrastructure problems on the overcrowded island that serves as the bedroom community for the U.S. Army’s Kwajalein missile testing range. In addition to managing the power plant, ASPA and Ebeye power plant staff are working on an urgently needed sewage system upgrade.
Palau
Efforts are in progress to launch a new airline from Palau later in the year. Palau National Congress Delegate Okada Techitong said Hawaii-based Aloha Airlines has agreed to manage Palau’s Rock Island Airlines and is interested in developing an operation that would serve Palau and neighboring Micronesian islands and Asian countries. Techitong said although seven airlines have rights to fly in and out of Palau, only three are active, providing just 14 flights a week.
Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas
The CNMI’s economy has hard-hit by fallout from September 11, with the CNMI government reporting visitor arrivals dropped 48.4 percent in October compared to a year ago. The visitor count was nearly 20,000 off the 40,423 who visited in October, 2000. Most of the CNMI’s tourists come from Asian countries, Japan in particular. Saipan tourism officials said that visitor arrival slump reflected the impact of the terrorist attacks in the U.S.
—Fili Sagapolutele, Giff Johnson
