It is now just over ten months since Samoa, American Samoa and Tonga were hit by the deadly tsunami of September 2009.

 The hardest hit areas in Samoa were Fagaloa Bay on the east coast of Upolu, Lalomanu on the south east coast, and along the rest of the southern coast of the Island, which was one of the main attractions for tourists. 

But now owners of beach fales (the traditional simple thatched huts in Samoa) and budget accommodations who have seen their assets damaged by the tsunami are rebuilding their  properties thanks to the TTRP funds – the Tourism Tsunami Beach Fale Re-building Programme for 2010.

 

 

The goal of the TTRP is to help beach fale and budget tourist accommodation operators to rebuild their accommodation businesses that were directly damaged or destroyed by the september 2009 tsunami, thus restoring vital incomes and livelihoods to local businesses in the areas, all of whom are family operated.  A total of US$ 1.4 million has been made available to provide assistance for such operators – with UNDP contributing US$20,000. The program will operate over a period of two years from May 2010 and is part of the Private Sector Support Facility (PSSF), a consolidation of previous funds supporting the private sector economy in Samoa, jointly funded by NZAID - New Zealand's Official DevelopmentAssistance’s agency – and UNDP through it’s Early Recovery Project. More specifically, UNDP assistance is provided in the form of provision of office equipment and ICT to the affected businesses whilst NZAID covers capital costs.

 

   

The TTRP will consider grant applications from small tourist beach fale and budget accommodation businesses to assist with the funding of building materials (including electrical and plumbing supplies) and essential office and ICT equipment. It will also cover fees relating to the rebuilding – such as building permits, transportation costs, etc. on a case by case basis, to ensure that the rebuilding for approved projects is not hindered by these additional costs that the applicant is often unable to cover.   An important outcome of the TTRP is to build safer tourist infrastructures – based on a ‘build back better’ principle which takes into account all the essential risk reduction aspects of improved construction methods and materials that are compliant with the national building code, PUMA environmental safeguards and Samoa Accommodation Standards. Accordingly, the applicants were to develop a disaster mitigation/management plan clearly demonstrating escape routes and safety procedures for operators and their families, employees and tourists in the event of tsunamis, fires and natural disasters such as cyclones, and earthquakes. TTRP will also cover for the cost of land filling, to ensure that the current location of each approved project has a strong hold and complies with environmental safeguards.

 

 

Grants for  eligible projects will be up to a maximum of $100,000 Samoan Tala (US $ 40,900) per project depending on the assessment to be undertaken on a case by case basis. The TTRP grant will assist eligible operators or businesses with the cost of reconstructing up to a maximum of twelve (12) beach fales, rooms or units. For those operators with less than twelve (12) beach fales, rooms or units operating prior to the tsunami, the grant is intended to assist with the reconstruction of the actual number of operational beach fales, rooms or units that existed prior to the tsunami. However, the TTRP is not intended to provide any assistance to the construction of new beach fales or budget accommodation.

 

A Facilitation Group including representatives of the Samoa Tourism Authority, the Samoa Hotel Association and PUMA has been formed to assist all applicants in the preparation of grant proposals to ensure that these proposals are compliant to the TTRP eligibility criteria and to ensure that applicants provide the correct supporting documentation before the Group makes its final recommendations for consideration by the PSSF Steering Group. The PSSF Steering Group, composed by representatives from the Samoan private sector and Government is the sole body responsible for making final decisions on all applications.

 

 

For more information contact : Mr. Paul Meredith (email : paul.meredith@undp.org)