Business Briefs
Business Briefs
| American Samoa McDonald's
American Samoa has signed a 10-year lease with the territorial government for
a new 41,000 square ft. two-story building on prime government property on Utulei
Beach Park. It will be the local franchise's second restaurant in the territory.
Governor Togiola Tulafono said the new restaurant will provide 100 new jobs and
boost the territory's economy. Bank of Hawaii has not yet
set a date for when a global company that provides payment services to financial
institutions and retailers will be able to offer services to the bank's merchants
in American Samoa. Florida-based Certegy Inc. announced in March an agreement
with the bank "to provide full check warranty and electronic check processing
services to merchants in the state of Hawaii, West Pacific and American Samoa."
Local general manager David Buehler says the bank is still working on the details. Samoa The
Samoa Venture Capital Fund (SVCF) has been launched in Apia to meet the financial
needs of local businesses that are either too small or considered too risky to
interest normal financial institutions. The SVCF is seen as a potential model
for other Pacific Island countries. It has the backing of the governments of Samoa
and Australia, the ANZ Bank, the National Bank of Samoa, the International Finance
Corporation, the Asian Development Bank and the European Investment Fund, and
has received $1,000,000 in pledges from investors. It will be jointly managed
by the Sydney-based firm Venture Capital Partners and the Samoan management consultancy
company KVA Consult. Samoa's Animal Protection Society (APS)
suggests Niue's example of limiting the number of dogs to two per household will
help the problem of unwanted animals in Samoa. Unwanted dogs that go unfed form
packs that hunt for food in the capital Apia, especially on the seawall that forms
the coast of the capital's shores. The problem surfaces publicly when tourists
are bitten. Environment Minister Tuisugaletaua Sofara raised the problem in a
meeting with Fred O'Regan, president of the animal advocacy group International
Fund for Animal Welfare. "He was very forceful in saying that Samoa has a problem,"
O'Regan says. Apart from being bitten in town, tourists are also liable to be
appalled by the sight of scrawny dogs in town and elsewhere in the country. Owners
do not take responsibility to care for their animals especially after the puppy
stage when their cuteness has gone, APS president Lynne Borrill says. CNMI The
number of visitors to the Northern Marianas in February declined 2.12 percent,
as compared to the same period in 2004, according to the Marianas Visitors Authority
(MVA). Arrivals from Japan declined 15 percent, a development blamed on Japan
Airlines and Northwest Airlines using smaller aircraft. Taiwan posted the highest
visitor increase at 433 percent, followed by China at 169 percent and Hong Kong
at 138 percent. MVA attributed the increases to the celebration of Chinese New
Year in February and direct flights from Hong Kong and Taiwan on Continental Airlines.
China Eastern Airlines added three extra flights from China. A total of 46,356
tourists came to the CNMI in February. The closure of two
garment factories on Saipan has left close to 600 workers jobless, most of them
from China. Other factories on Saipan are downsizing as orders from U.S. companies
began to decline since January of this year. Sako Corp. and Marianas Fashions
were the first two factories to close. Garment factories, the biggest private
employer in the Northern Marianas, employ about 15,000 workers. Since new World
Trade Organization agreements went into effect in January, the local industry
must directly compete against China and other Asian countries, where labor and
garment products are much cheaper. More factories are expected to fold, according
to industry officials. Guam The Guam branch of the
U.S. Small Business Administration named George K. Lai as the 2005 Small Business
Person of the Year on March 18. Lai is the president and owner of food wholesaler
Quality Distributors Inc. He began his business in 1986 with one 40-foot refrigerated
container and one customer. Today he employs nearly 80 people and has more than
600 customers including the Department of Defense. Also honored by the SBA was
Gaynor Dumat-ol Daleno as the 2005 Small Business Journalist of the Year. She
is the business editor and assistant local news editor for the Pacific Daily News. CTSI
Logistics has opened a new 11,360 square meter distribution center in Tamuning,
Guam. The company's old facility in the Harmon Industrial Park was destroyed by
Supertyphoon Pongsona in December 2002. The new all-concrete center is typhoon-proof.
The facility also features a state-of-the-art security system and two temperature-controlled
rooms. CTSI is a subsidiary of Tan Holdings Inc. United Micronesia
Development Association (UMDA) has merged its telecommunications providers in
Guam and Saipan-Marianas Cablevision and Internet service providers Kuentos Communications
and Saipan Datacom-with a company owned by New York-based Seaport Capital. Seaport
Capital is a private equity fund with more than $400 million of capital under
management, according to a release from Communications Equity Associates, which
represented UMDA in the deal. "This new partnership with Seaport Capital will
allow us to accelerate our current growth strategies and provide new and innovative
telecommunications services to the residents of Guam and the CNMI," Peter Sinclair
chairman of Marianas Cablevision and president of UMDA says. Guam's newly privatized
phone company, GTA, has announced its plans to launch both cable television service
and to retail broadband Internet service. Marshall Islands International
Bridge Construction of Guam and Pacific International Inc., the largest Majuro
construction company, have been awarded the first three major Compact-funded construction
projects for 2005. IBC won a bid, initially disputed by PII, for the $2.7 million
first phase improvement of Jaluit High School, the country's second largest public
high school whose facilities, built in the 1970s, are rapidly deteriorating. PII
was given the nod for a $1.5 million Marshall Islands High School classroom block
and a nearly $1 million contract for building administration and dormitory facilities
for Northern Islands High School on Wotje Atoll. About $14 million in U.S. Compact
funding is expected to be spent on improving public school facilities in 2005. Palau The
construction of Palau Royal Resort, the republic's newest hotel, was completed
in April. A grand opening is tentatively scheduled for June-well in advance of
the upcoming 2005 Mini South Pacific Games to be hosted by Palau in late July.
The six-story "L shaped" hotel with 160 rooms and many amenities occupies a 30,500
square meter beachfront lot in Malakal and matches Palau's two largest hotels-Palasia
and Palau Pacific Resort-in size. Isao Takahashi, general manager of Palau's now
closed Nikko Hotel, will assume the same position for Palau Royal Resort under
the administration of Nikko Hotels International. Kiribati The
Kiribati Oil Company (KOIL) is building its own fuel depot in Betio, South Tarawa.
At the same time it is negotiating the purchase of Mobil fuel tanks at Betio.
KOIL is currently leasing tanks from Mobil because it does not have its own. KOIL
officials say that building its own tank farm will help to keep prices lower.
KOIL is also preparing to renegotiate a fuel supply contract that has been in
place since 1992 with Mobil. Papua New Guinea Malaysian
oil palm giant Kulim (M) Bhd is looking at expanding its presence in the Pacific.
Its managing director Ahamad Mohamad told Malaysian newspaper The Star they were
looking at expanding their operations as getting vacant land designated for large-scale
plantations in Malaysia is becoming increasingly difficult. He says Kulim's focus
is to expand downstream activities, especially in the manufacture of oleochemicals
and related by-products. Mohamad says Kulim, which presently operates in Indonesia
and Papua New Guinea, sees "opportunities to expand our presence in the South
Pacific Islands." New Caledonia The ANZ Banking Group
has established its first office in New Caledonia. ANZ Group Managing Director
Bob Lyons says "we are already the leading bank in much of the Pacific and establishing
a representative office in Noumea gives ANZ a presence in one of the Pacific's
largest economies for the first time." ANZ's representative in Noumea will be
Ian Peterkin. |
