11 Aug 2017

Opera house planned for Samoa cultural centre

2:25 pm on 11 August 2017

An opera house will be one of the facilities included in a cultural and art centre to be built in Samoa with funds from a municipal government in China.

Samoa's Sports Minister, Loau Keneti Sio.

Samoa's Minister of Culture, Loau Keneti Sio. Photo: PHOTOSPORT

The Education Minister, Loau Keneti Sio, said construction of the multi-dollar centre would start before the end of the year.

The old headquarters of the Ministry of Education, Sports and Culture at the state school compound in Malifa, a few minutes inland of Apia, have been demolished to make way for the centre.

The project is a gift from the Huizhou Municipal Government in Guandong Province through a city sisterhood agreement signed in 2015.

The pact will see Huizhou also install electronic platforms for each of the 23 public colleges in the country - a project that has started.

Three computer labs are included.

Huizhou will also fund scholarships for Samoan students to a value of $US81,700 a year.

The Huizhou Hualuogeng Secondary School has established a sister-school pact in Samoa with Samoa College, which includes a students and teacher exchange program.

Huizhou has also committed to gift to the National Hospital at Moto'otua a portable x-ray machine.