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 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.