The Congregational Christian Church of Samoa (CCCS) is making an annual payment of $1.7 million to the Samoa National Provident Fund (SNPF) on a $15.11 million loan.
The loan from the was taken out to assist with the building of their $17.39 million Jubilee Church and for and other developments.
The Church’s Komiti o Feau Eseese (Works Committee) has recommended to the Church’s General Assembly, meeting at Malua, that steps be taken to reduce the debt more rapidly.
According to their report, the loan taken out in 2015 was for $15,116,760.17 with the annual payment of $1,743,300.
The first payment was made on 9 December 2016 but by that time the loan had increased to 15,209,955.68 because of the accrued interest.
So the first payment reduced the loan only to $13,466,655.68.
The second payment of $1,743.300 was made on 13 November 2017.
At that time the additional interest had brought the balance up to $14,426,357.69.
According to the committee’s report, if the annual payments continue rather than monthly payments, the Church is looking at paying $23 million and payments will be completed by the year 2029.
They have recommended that church make monthly payments of $145,275.
The committee also recommended that the church’s investments in Unit Trust of Samoa should be withdrawn and allocated to help pay for the Church’s loan at SNFP.
The Komiti o Feau Eseese has also asked the General Assembly for an additional $2 million to complete the renovations of the John Williams building.
The committee made two recommendations related to decreasing the electricity bill of the Malua compound:
- Hire an engineer to evaluate all the electrical aspects of the compound and, whatever the results of the assessment, recommendations should be followed.
- Convert to cash power each building, including offices and residential, to assure the electricity is well managed.”
They also made suggestions about measures to reduce power consumption.
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