The Niue Government hopes a major construction project that is now under tender will bring Niuean tradespeople back to the island.
The minister chairing the project for a new multi million dollar public administration building, Bill Vakaafi Motufoou, says they also want to provide incentives for the successful tenderer to include local people in the construction.
The building will bring all government agencies under one roof at a site back from the coast to ensure it cannot be hit by tidal surges as happened to several public facilities, including the island's hospital, during Cyclone Heta in 2004.
Mr Motufoou says a number of New Zealand companies are tendering for the job and there will be a requirement that Niueans are included in the workforce.
"We are working on a system where some priorities should be given to Niuean based tradesmen, because whoever is the successful tenderer will also have to take that into account. And we would also like to bring some of our tradespeople from New Zealand, if that is possible."
