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Operation Turn It Off

Written by Pio Sioa
Sunday, 29 June 2008
If the Vice Chancellor of the National University of Samoa, is excited about Operation Friday Switch Off, he deserves to be. There will obviously be an awful lot of sweating bodies around him every Friday in the weeks to come, but it is the last working day of the week. The staff have all weekend to go home and have a good shower or to cool down. Besides sweating is good for the body so the exercise offers a healthy bonus as well. Vice Chancellor Magele Mauilu can certainly do with a savings of $10,000 a month or easily $120,000 a year taken off the NUS electricity bill to run the Le Papaigalagala Campus more efficiently. Now put on your imagination cap and work your way to what CEO Muaausa Joseph Walters and his EPC people can save for the country, if the NUS initiative sparks off a domino effect on all the other Government Corporations and Ministries. Start with the Government Building and the Central Bank of Samoa, across to the National Provident Fund, Development Bank of Samoa and so on. When we have done adding up what each can save on their electricity bill, will the amount be any closer to paying off our $104 million budget deficit? Maybe not! Will we move any closer to that amount if we do a rollover power cut across the length and breadth of Upolu and Savai’i? If we really want to go hard out to cut down on our national fuel bill, should we limit ourselves to just electricity? Perhaps it may be politically sensitive right now to go overboard about it, so let’s keep to the electricity . Too many noses are still out of joint from the RHD, it may be too much of an ask right now, even for a fearless Government led by an arrow shooting Prime Minister. But think about it. Allow the brain to munch quietly on the idea of how we can cut down on our fuel spending. Listen up folks with a few extra millions saved we can afford to tear down that old STEC ‘eyesore’ next to the Hotel Kitano Tusitala and build something nice on that prime estate. An international conference room is not a bad idea. With our shinning reputation for political stability we could attract regional and international conferences to Apia every day of the week. We could also raze that Savalalo flea market to the ground and build a multi-story accommodation building to house our growing tourism visitors. When you have money in the pocket, dreams become reality. But we are never going to ‘get real’ if we dream about oil prices dropping down tomorrow. You will not find any fairytale ending there. Robin Hood is never to going marry lady Marian if he is not prepared to stew in the hot office for a day, so he can save some money to take her out to dinner or to elope. The price of oil is stretching everyone’s finances to the limit and the financial load is not going to go away, if we do not sweat for it. Dream is the stuff that makes for fairytale endings if it becomes a reality. But it can also turn into a nightmare. Right now the on going increase in the price of fuel is a nightmare. Comments (4) Subscribe to this comment's feed Operation Turn it Back On---- written by Turn It On!, June 30, 2008 Dear Sir, You do not run a developing country by turning off the electricity, no matter the situation with fuel. The Leader at the fuel depot job was to keep the lights on and give it to the people at a fair price. Why on Earth are you turning the clock back on development? Do you wish to have our people return to caves? ... written by V.Patu, June 30, 2008 This is one of the hottest issue in the world right now... and Samoa with all the 195 official countries of the world is part of the issue. We all know Samoa is a Developing Country....but a developing country with potential. The idea is great and I for one support it. The operation itself has everything to do with the development of Samoa. Cheers Maybe, Just Maybe with the Logic then--- written by lets see, July 01, 2008 we logic to say, lets turn it off, every Sunday to Saturday for instance. we logic to say, lets turn it off, every day, for a week or say, between the hours of 12:00 noon to 12:00 midnight. we logic to say, turn it off, every evening, for a month, between 6:00 p.m to 6:00 a.m it becomes endless the off and on button how about the candle business anyone, just like the ggranfathers and and them before lets all go back to the future---ahem, sorry, I was having those flashbacks again when your done, please turn my lights back on. I hate the large roaches on my puligi thank you cheers Sure, then turn the lights off at the Faleolo Runway while your at it---- written by Just thinking, July 01, 2008 maybe the Poly Blue planes can land with no lights, that would be something to see! why, we are just trying to save some money o great smarty pants one of just real smart idea's Write comment Name Email Title Comment
Last Updated ( Monday, 30 June 2008 )

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