Sections

Strategic Planning Section

The Strategic Planning (SP) Section is the spearhead of the Agency in policy and guideline development, as these would assist the Agency with its duties and responsibilities.  The work of SP addresses the following:

1. Policy and Research Development

The first unit under SP is the Policy Development subsection and their main role is to develop and review of policies, guidelines, codes, regulations and other planning provisions to support the Act. These policies and guidelines are the backbone of the Agency’s abilities to administer the various parts of the Act. These also provide solidarity for the lawful interventions made by the Agency.

2. Plan and Development

The second unit looks into the planning side of things with the development of Sustainable Management Plans (SMP) and creating plans and designs for the sustainable utilization of land resources, including town planning, zoning and assist coordination of key infrastructure and land development programs & projects at the national, regional, district, village and site-specific levels.

SP section also holds the role of being Secretariat to the PUM Board, where they are responsible for compiling all the reports that require PUM Board decision and board meeting logistics.

Other general functions and responsibilities under SP include:

• Preparing and conducting internal trainings and Capacity Building initiatives.
• Implementing public awareness Programs.
• Project management support
• procedure setting improvement
• Knowledge Management Centre

SP staff consists of 1 Principal officer, 2 Senior Officers, and 3 Planning Officers.

Sustainable Development Section

The Sustainable Development (SD) Section’s main functions include:

1. Assessing Development Consent Applications

Development Consent Applications submitted to the Agency are assessed based on the nature of the proposed development and its possible environmental impacts. Through the Development Consent Application Process, the SD Section is able to monitor the environmental, social and economic impacts of each development on its surrounding environment. All applications exceeding the estimated cost of $ 1,000,000 tala threshold will be processed by the Agency and submitted to the Planning and Urban Management Board for a determination while all applications below $1m tala will be processed and determined by the Agency and endorsed by the Administrative Head/ Assistant Chief Executive Officer for PUMA.

2. Review Environmental Assessment Reports

EIA is a document required when a developer proposes to carry out an activity that is likely to generate adverse environmental impacts to existing and surrounding environments. The EIA process is an information gathering exercise carried out by the developer or applicant for development consent

which enables the Agency to understand the environmental impacts of a development and consultations involved before deciding whether or not the development should go ahead.

The environmental assessment is a holistic process which looks at the benefits of a proposal and tries to enhance the positive outcomes and reduce the negative aspects through mitigation.

The Agency reviews and assesses the EIA. It must ensure that the EIA is in accordance with the PUM (EIA) Regulations 2007. The review of the EIA report is then submitted to the Board for a decision.

SD staff consists of 1 Principal officer, 1 Senior officer and 2 Sustainable Development officers

Urban Management Section

The Urban Management (UM) Section delivers complaint resolution services regarding public amenity (nuisance) provisions under the Act. Section 63 of the Act identifies the following issues as affecting the amenity of an area.

• Excessive noise
• Excessive dust
• Visually offensive signage, material or structure
• Poor airspace, lighting or ventilation
• Excessive traffic generation
• Smell, fumes, vapors
• Waste materials including bulk material, used goods and property
• Wastewater, sewage and drainage
• Stray and domestic animals

This Section is responsible with:

• administering urban management services and manage public complaints.
• Section 63 of the Act to protect the amenity of an area or place; and

UM Section consists of 1 Principal Officer, 1 Senior Officer, and 2 Urban Management Officers.

Compliance, Monitoring and Enforcement

The Compliance, Monitoring and Enforcement Section is responsible for the following:

• Monitoring of approved Development Consent conditions
• Investigate non-consented and non-compliant developments

enforcing the planning law and ensuring compliance of developments to the development consenting requirements and also compliance of developments to the conditions provided within the approved Development Consents.  This includes monitoring development consents granted by both the Board and the Agency for compliance with the consent conditions.  Non- compliance cases will be charged under the Act.

CME Section comprises of 1 principal, 1 senior and 2 officers.

Street Addressing Section

1.             Introduction to property addressing

The Street Addressing section was established in April 2021 following a Cabinet Directive to establish a team to develop a system that can identify and locate a building or property’s location on the street or road in Samoa. The system is intended to be used nationally to promote businesses and to improve government responsiveness to emergencies such as fire services, ambulances and police to name a few. Furthermore, it will aid the utilities services such as water and electricity through the distribution of customer bills.

We also maintain the official national database for property street numbers in Samoa and ensure it follows a good addressing practice and standards before adding them to official records. These standards and guidelines help to ensure addresses are unique, logical and clear with odd numbers on the left and even on the right side of the road or street with all factors that can help avoid confusion.

2.             Addressing roles and responsibilities

The street naming function is retained in MNRE through their Geographic Naming Board whereas the Street Addressing Section is responsible for allocating street number to property and houses. We ensure that the official street address information can be available to end-users such as emergency services, businesses, local government and relevant agencies at no cost. Also note that this information does not include the name of the property residents or owner.

To enable property resident or owner to take ownership of this initiative, they will have to design and display (Design, Display and Placement of Address Signage standard) their allocated street number which was provided by the Street Addressing Section in a way that can be clearly visible from the main road to make it easier to find a property.

3.             Addressing standards and guidelines

Our street addressing standards is to ensure that we keep the addresses simple as possible so they can be easily understood by member of the public who are trying to find a property. Samoa’s national street address contains these five main components:

1. Street Number – this indicates the number of the property or house on the street (eg 45)
2. Road Name – indicates the road or street where the number is located (eg Teuila Street)
3. Village – this describes the locality of where the street number and street name are located (eg Moamoa)
4. District – identifies the district where the number, street name and village are located (eg Faleata 1)
5. Island – indicates the island of Samoa where the street address is located (eg Upolu)

i.e the official street address for the Tui Atua Tupua Tamasese Efi (TATTE) Building at Sogi is;

1 Main Beach Road, Sogi, Vaimauga 4, Upolu

The Street Addressing Section consist of 1 Principal and 1 Officer