Samoa Land Corporation
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- Minister of Public Enterprises
- Ulugia Petelo Kavesi[1], General Manager
| Fa’alapotopotoga o Eleele Tumaoti a Samoa | |
| Agency overview | |
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| Formed | 1990 |
| Minister responsible |
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| Agency executive |
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The Samoa Land Corporation is a government-owned company based in Samoa. The corporation was established in 1990 to divest 24,000 acres (9,700 ha) of land previously owned by the Western Samoa Trust Estates Corporation on a commercial basis to generate revenue for the government.[2] The corporation is structured as a company under the Companies Act 1955.[2]
The corporation's work has been controversial. Some of the land owned by the corporation was taken during the colonial era and is claimed as customary land by village councils.[3] In 1997 villagers in Vaiusu fired on police in a dispute over alienation of customary land by the corporation.[4] In 2012 the village of Satapuala petitioned for the return of its land, arguing that it had been stolen by the German and then New Zealand administrations.[5]
In 2013 a parliamentary committee found that the corporation had engaged in overspending and "corrupt practices" to disguise payments to a local businessman,[6] and recommended legal action against those responsible.[7] In 2014 a parliamentary committee found that the Samoan government should not have transferred 18,500 acres (7,500 ha) of land to the corporation.[8] In 2019 the Auditor-General found that a debt of $15.9 million owed by the government to the corporation over a land exchange had not been followed up on by the corporation and that lease arrears had not been pursued.[9]
In 2014 the corporation moved out of its headquarters at Tuanaimato. The building failed to find a tenant and sat empty for three years,[10] and in 2017 the corporation moved back in.[11]